Mansion of Secrets
by runthroughthestars
Summary: Six students are chosen by their school to participate in a new intershool program. What secrets will they discover and what adventures will they face? KxK AxM MxS
1. Letters

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Rurouni Kenshin!

**A/N:** I deleted the other two stories because I couldn't think of anything to write about! (Sorry!) Anyways, my friend told me I should write a Rurouni Kenshin story so I am! This one goes to you Yueh-san!

**Mansion of Secrets**

**Letters**

'What the fuck?'

A raven haired beauty was sitting on her bed, brown eyes staring a letter held in her delicate hands.

_Dear Miss Kamiya,_

_Your school has chosen you to participate in a new inter school program. Six students from two schools will be spending the year at a mansion together, you being one of them. Your studies consist of only homework which you can do whenever you wish but you have to finish it by a certain deadline. Half of the students are female while the other half is male. Here is a list of the other students._

_Makimachi Misao_

_Takani Megumi_

_Himura Kenshin_

_Sagara Sanosuke_

_Shinomori Aoshi_

_You will be picked up in two days in front of your house at nine o'clock in the morning. We will be checking on you from time to time to see how you are doing. Good luck._

_Mr. Saito and Mr. Seijiuurou_

_Co-heads of Japan's Interschool Programs_

'Why didn't they tell me about this?' Kaoru thought while thinking about the different methods she could use to kill the principle. 'Oh well. At least it sounds better than normal school. Besides, Misao and Megumi are going to be there,' Kaoru thought while getting off of her bed in search of a suitcase.

'This sounds fun!'

_Dear Miss Makimachi,_

_Your school has chosen you to participate in a new inter school program. Six students from two schools will be spending the year at a mansion together, you being one of them. Your studies consist of only homework which you can do whenever you wish but you have to finish it by a certain deadline. Half of the students are female while the other half is male. Here is a list of the other students._

_Kamiya Kaoru_

_Takani Megumi_

_Himura Kenshin_

_Sagara Sanosuke_

_Shinomori Aoshi_

_You will be picked up in two days in front of your house at nine o'clock in the morning. We will be checking on you from time to time to see how you are doing. Good luck._

_Mr. Saito and Mr. Seijiuurou_

_Co-heads of Japan's Interschool Programs_

A girl with raven hair pulled back in a loose braid jumped off her bed to show the letter she had just received to her grandfather.

"Okina! Look at what I got!" Misao yelled as she slid down the stair's banister.

"What did you get?" Okina asked taking the letter away from the happy Misao. "Well this sounds interesting," Okina said after reading the letter twice. Well go ahead and get packing," Okina said, giving Misao the letter back.

Misao ran up the stairs and grabbed her suitcase before opening her drawers and stuffing everything inside it.

'Interesting…'

_Dear Miss Takani,_

_Your school has chosen you to participate in a new inter school program. Six students from two schools will be spending the year at a mansion together, you being one of them. Your studies consist of only homework which you can do whenever you wish but you have to finish it by a certain deadline. Half of the students are female while the other half is male. Here is a list of the other students._

_Kamiya Kaoru_

_Makimachi Misao_

_Himura Kenshin_

_Sagara Sanosuke_

_Shinomori Aoshi_

_You will be picked up in two days in front of your house at nine o'clock in the morning. We will be checking on you from time to time to see how you are doing. Good luck._

_Mr. Saito and Mr. Seijiuurou_

_Co-heads of Japan's Interschool Program_

A girl who was sitting on her bed put a strand of raven colored hair behind her ear. She sighed and leaned out of her bed room door.

"Hey Genzai-sensei! I'm not going to be here this year because of some school program but you can send me some stuff to read later when I can give you the address of the place I'm going to!" Megumi shouted.

"Oh yes! I've already been talked to about that since I am technically one of your teachers. Your stuff will already be sent over there regularly Megumi," Dr. Genzai's voice came from the staircase. "Now why don't you go ahead and start packing?"

Megumi closed the door to her bedroom before going over to her bed and pulling out her suitcase from underneath it.

'At least I'll be somewhat by myself,' Megumi thought as she started to pack.

'Oro?'

_Dear Mr. Kenshin,_

_Your school has chosen you to participate in a new inter school program. Six students from two schools will be spending the year at a mansion together, you being one of them. Your studies consist of only homework which you can do whenever you wish but you have to finish it by a certain deadline. Half of the students are male while the other half is female. Here is a list of the other students._

_Kamiya Kaoru_

_Makimachi Misao_

_Takani Megumi_

_Sagara Sanosuke_

_Shinomori Aoshi_

_You will be picked up in two days in front of your house at nine o'clock in the morning. We will be checking on you from time to time to see how you are doing. Good luck._

_Mr. Saito and Mr. Seijiuurou_

_Co-heads of Japan's Interschool Program_

A red haired boy was sitting crossed legged on his bed. He got up slowly and opened the door.

"Hey Hiko?" Kenshin asked, leaning into the library.

"Yes Kenshin?"

"Why did you send me a letter if I live with you?"

"Just to be formal," Hiko said, turning around in his seat to face Kenshin.

"Well I'll just go pack then," Kenshin said before walking back to his room.

'Huh?'

Dear Mr. Sagara,

_Your school has chosen you to participate in a new inter school program. Six students from two schools will be spending the year at a mansion together, you being one of them. Your studies consist of only homework which you can do whenever you wish but you have to finish it by a certain deadline. Half of the students are male while the other half is female. Here is a list of the other students._

_Kamiya Kaoru_

_Makimachi Misao_

_Takani Megumi_

_Himura Kenshin_

_Shinomori Aoshi_

_You will be picked up in two days in front of your house at nine o'clock in the morning. We will be checking on you from time to time to see how you are doing. Good luck._

_Mr. Saito and Mr. Seijiuurou_

_Co-heads of Japan's Interschool Program_

A boy with spiky black hair read the letter twice before grinning and placing it down on his bed and walking down the stairs to the living room.

"Hey guess what Yahiko?"

"What?"

"I'm not gonna be here this whole year."

"You mean I have to take care of him myself?"

"That's right Tsunan."

"You suck!"

"See you tomorrow!" Sano said as he ran up the stairs before any more pillows could hit him.

'…'

_Dear Mr. Shinomori,_

_Your school has chosen you to participate in a new inter school program. Six students from two schools will be spending the year at a mansion together, you being one of them. Your studies consist of only homework which you can do whenever you wish but you have to finish it by a certain deadline. Half of the students are male while the other half is female. Here is a list of the other students._

_Kamiya Kaoru_

_Makimachi Misao_

_Takani Megumi_

_Himura Kenshin_

_Sagara Sanosuke_

_You will be picked up in two days in front of your house at nine o'clock in the morning. We will be checking on you from time to time to see how you are doing. Good luck._

_Mr. Saito and Mr. Seijiuurou_

_Co-heads of Japan's Interschool Program_

A boy with black hair put down the letter on his bed before grabbing a suitcase and packing.


	2. Strangers

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Rurouni Kenshin!

**A/N:** Between studying for tests, skiing, trying to keep myself warm, opening presents, visiting relatives, studying for exams, and opening more presents I was finally able to finish! I was completely ready to write a couple of chapters taking place during the winter but unfortunately the school year starts during the fall. I also got really bored describing the rooms so I started to make them shorter as you will notice. This might be really boring to read (it was really boring to write it) but I promise it will all get better! (I can promise you that because Yueh-san would kill me if it didn't get better… .) R&R!

**Mansion of Secrets**

**Strangers**

Kaoru stepped out of the car and looked at the mansion in front of her. The mansion was set in the middle of a forest on a hill. It was made out of white marble and was of Greek architecture.

"Thanks for bringing me here," Kaoru told the driver as handed her bags. She grabbed her two suitcases by the handle and walked up the steps to the front door. She took out the keys that had come with the letter out of her pocket and opened the door. Instead of seeing a normal entrance hall Kaoru found herself looking at a beautiful garden. The gardens contained beautiful flowers and trees. There was a path that led through the garden that was made out of stones. She could also hear running water in the distance. It was then that Kaoru noticed the two, wooden staircases on either side of the garden that led to the upper floors.

As Kaoru approached the staircase on the left she noticed that there were three letters taped to the railing. Picking one up she opened it and read what was inside.

_To whoever might pick this up,_

_As you have noticed when you first arrived here there are four floors to this building. Each of you will have one half of the three top floors. On the first floor there is a living room to the left of the open garden and a dining room and kitchen to the right of the garden. There are two staircases on each side of the garden which lead to the second floor. The rest of the floors are very similar. There are two bathrooms, two dens, two bedrooms, and a room that the two people living on each floor will design themselves. Please write your name in one of the boxes on the sheet hanging from the banister so that people will know when all of the rooms on one side of the house are taken. There are also many hidden rooms in this mansion. We will meet all of you at six o'clock tonight in the living room._

_Mr. Saito and Mr. Seijiuurou_

_Co-heads of Japan's Interschool Programs_

Kaoru looked at the banister and noticed that there was indeed a piece of paper with three boxes on it. Kaoru grabbed the pen that was attached to the sheet and wrote her name in the first box. Deciding that she wanted a room on the first floor so that she would be close to the garden Kaoru wrote 'second floor' next to her name before walking up the steps. When she reached the top she noticed that the hallway was only surrounded by walls on one side. Leaning over the banister of the corridor Kaoru was able to see the garden from above. Standing back up Kaoru grabbed her bags again and walked to the first door. She opened the door to see that this room was her study.

The study had a navy blue carpet, baby blue walls, a white desk, a white window seat, and a blue, dell laptop. Closing the door Kaoru lugged her bags down to the next door and opened it. The far wall was made out of glass and showed a beautiful view of the surrounding golden woods. The center of the left wall was a built in closet. There were some pictures hanging on each side of the closet. Some of the pictures were of waterfalls while others were pictures of lakes.

Kaoru walked into her room and closed the door behind her. On the wall behind her were a bunch of shelves, some of which had a stereo system and CD holders while the others were empty. In the far corner was a queen size bed. Next to the window on the far wall was a door which Kaoru assumed led to the bathroom. The walls, ceiling, and doors were painted baby blue. The shelves and bed covers were royal blue and the carpet was navy blue. Over all there was about 40 feet between the bathroom door and the closet and about 20 feet between the window and the opposite wall.

Kaoru placed her bags on the floor and took off her coat. She walked over to the bathroom door and opened it. The floor and walls were made out of royal blue marble. There was a mirror over a navy blue, marble counter in which there was a black sink on the left side of the bathroom. There was a navy blue tub as well as a navy blue shower which were on the right. In the far right corner was a black toilet to the right of which was a towel rack that contained an assortment of royal blue towels. Kaoru noticed that whoever planned this all out went as far as to make sure that she had royal blue soap.

Smiling, Kaoru walked out of the bathroom closing the door silently behind her. Deciding that she was going to unpack and so she dragged her bags over to the closet. Kaoru grabbed hold of the handles of the two sliding doors and, giving them a slight push, opened the doors completely. The closet contained a bureau as well as hangers that she could use to hang her clothes. Just as Kaoru turned around to get her clothes from her bags she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. Tucked in the back of the closet were to dance bars that she could move to the center of her room. It seemed that these people knew her well.

Kaoru had loved to dance since she was a little child. She had seen a program on T.V. about swordsmanship and was amazed at how gracefully they were able to move. Since Kaoru's parents wouldn't let her practice swordsmanship at such a young age she had settled for the next best thing, dancing. She received lessons from some of the best dancers in Tokyo. Not only was she a great dancer but she was also a great singer and got lead roles in a lot of the school plays. Recently Kaoru had started teaching herself how to use a sword. She found it harder than dancing but it was what she had been determined to learn as a little girl and she would see that she learned how to swing a sword with as much grace as the people she had seen on T.V.

Kaoru brought herself out of her trip down memory lane and grabbed her clothes out of her bag and started unpacking.

Kenshin got out of the car and looked up at the mansion where he would be staying for the next year. Thanking the driver Kenshin grabbed his bags and walked up the steps. He pushed the door open and was surprised to see a garden in front of him. Deciding to check it out later he noticed a staircase on the right hand side and walked over to it. He noticed three envelopes taped to the railing and picked one up. He read the message inside and grabbed the pen that was taped onto the railing and wrote 'Himura Kenshin, second floor' in the first box. He grabbed his bags and walked up the steps then towards the first door on his right. He opened it and looked inside to discover that the room was his study.

The carpet was royal blue while the walls were painted baby blue. The desk was white and he had a silver, dell laptop. Kenshin closed the door and walked down to the next door. He opened the door to find that this was his bedroom. His room was the same as Kaoru's except everything on the right was on the left and everything on the left was on the right. Also, the walls, doors, and ceiling were royal blue, the carpet was royal blue and the shelves and the bed were black. The pictures were pictures of the ocean, both calm and wild. In the bathroom his walls were made out of royal blue marble, the sink and toilet were white, and the tub and shower were made out of baby blue marble. Also, inside of his closet was a rack of practice swords instead of dance bars.

The next person to arrive was Misao. She chose the left half of the fourth floor. Her study, bedroom, and bathroom were colored blue, and indigo with a little bit of purple. Her room design was like Kaoru's. Her pictures were paintings of the old Japan. In her closet was a stash of targets.

Aoshi was the next person to arrive after Misao. She chose the right half of the fourth floor. Her study, bedroom, and bathroom were colored black and dark shades of blue. His pictures were pictures of Japan's temples. His room design was like Kenshin's. In his closet was a stash of incense.

Megumi was the next person to arrive after Aoshi. She chose the left half of the third floor. Her study, bedroom, and bathroom were colored different shades of purple. Her room design was like Kaoru's. Her pictures were pictures of purple flowers. In her closet was a yoga mat.

Sano was the last to arrive. He had no choice but to choose the right half of the third floor although he would have chosen that room anyways. His study, bedroom, and bathroom were colored red and black. His room design was like Kenshin's. His pictures were pictures of famous marshal artists. In his closet was a movable punching bag.

Even though all of them realized that it seemed as if the people who organized this program knew a little too much about them they didn't care. After all they had to remain here for the rest of the year.

Kaoru woke up to the sound of fighting downstairs. Surprised that she had managed to fall asleep, Kaoru changed into more comfortable clothes. After putting on a tank top and sweatpants Kaoru went downstairs to find out what all the noise was about.

"Kaoru!"

Kaoru braced herself against Misao as she flung herself towards Kaoru, giving her a tight hug.

"What's up Misao?" Kaoru asked when her friend finally let her go.

"Not much. Come on! Everyone's in the kitchen."

Misao led Kaoru to the dining room which in turn led to the kitchen. Kaoru found four people in the kitchen, one of which she was able to recognize as Megumi. Megumi seemed to be arguing with a boy with spiky, black hair about something, it was most likely to be insignificant. Kaoru caught site of something red and turned her attention to a boy with long, red hair that was watching them helplessly. Her attention was then drawn to another boy with black hair who seemed to have managed to be able to sleep through all the noise.

"The guy fighting with Megumi is Sagara Sanosuke," Misao told Kaoru over Sanosuke and Megumi's fighting. "The guy with the red hair is Himura Kenshin and the guy sleeping over there is Shinomori Aoshi."

"Will you guys shut up!"

Everyone looked up in surprise and Megumi and Sanosuke stopped their fighting. Standing before them were two men. On had squinty eyes, black hair and was smoking a cigarette. The other one had long black hair, a strong build, and seemed to be annoyed to be in the presence of the teenagers.

"Who are you?" Megumi asked.

"The people who are about to ruin your lives," said the one with the long hair.

"Stop scaring them Hiko," said the man with the cigarette.

"I think you're scaring us more Saito," said Kenshin.

"Anyways," Hiko said glancing at his watch, "it's six o'clock. Let's head to the living room."


	3. Floor Mates

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Rurouni Kenshin!

**A/N:** I recommend all books by Agatha Christie, Tamora Pierce, Jonathan Stroud, Philip Pullman, Sue Grafton, Garth Nix, and a bunch of other people. I also recommend everything listed below. I don't know if all of the favorites match the character's personality but I was having trouble thinking of things.

**Mansion Of Secrets**

**Floor Mates**

They were all sitting in the living room. Sanosuke was standing against the wall next to the door. To his left was Kenshin who was sitting in a chair near the fire place. To Kenshin's left was Kaoru who was sharing a couch with Misao. To their left was Megumi sitting in a chair. To her left was Aoshi who was sitting against the wall. Hiko and Saito were standing in front of the fire.

"Okay. First we're going to play the name game," Saito said, grinning when he heard the groans. "You have to say your name, a hobby, your favorite book, your favorite movie, your favorite manga, and your favorite song. You go first," Saito said pointing to Sanosuke.

"Name's Sagara Sanosuke but you can just call me Sano. I like boxing, favorite book is And Then There Were None, favorite movie is The Ring, favorite manga is Yu Yu Hakusho, and my favorite song is 'Till I Collapse."

Saito finished writing a few things down on a pad of paper and then looked up when he realized no one was talking. "Well keep on going," he growled at no one in particular.

Kenshin sighed and then picked up the name game. "My name is Himura Kenshin. I like sword fighting, my favorite series is The Seventh Tower, my favorite movie is The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, my favorite manga is Death Note, and my favorite song is Mr. Brightside."

There was a moment of silence in which Saito finished taking notes before Kaoru started talking. "My name is Kamiya Kaoru. I like dancing, my favorite series is The Abhorsen Trilogy, my favorite movie is Air Force One, my favorite manga is Fushigi Yugi, and my favorite song is Unwanted."

Misao didn't even wait for Saito to finish before she started talking. "My name is Makimachi Misao. I like martial arts, my favorite series is The Oran Trilogy, my favorite movie series is The Lord of the Ring, my favorite manga is Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, and my favorite song is Miss Independent."

Megumi waited for a second and then continued with the name game. "My name is Takani Megumi. I like medicine, my favorite book is The House of the Scorpion, my favorite movie is Rush Hour, my favorite manga is Fruits Basket, and my favorite song is Rumors."

Aoshi started right after Megumi was finished and talked in a low voice. "My name is Shinomori Aoshi. I like martial arts, my favorite series is The Bartimaeus Trilogy, my favorite movie series is Star Wars, my favorite manga is Legal Drug, and my favorite song is Boulevard of Broken Dreams."

Saito finished taking notes while Hiko started talking. "All of the things you have listed will arrive within the week. In order to help learn about each other the girls will get together and watch the movies you guys like. Then they will divide the reading amongst themselves and write reports on each of the books for each other so they all know what happens. The same thing goes for the boys. You have a month to complete the assignment."

All of the teenagers started protesting but Saito started talking and they immediately became quiet. "You will keep track of things you need on two lists, one for groceries and the other for random stuff. The list will be picked up weekly and the items requested will be delivered as soon as possible. Homework assignments will be placed in envelopes by the door by three o'clock on the day they are due."

"For breaks you will go visit your families if you have anything planed. If not then you are welcome to stay here. Activities will also be available to you depending on the season. There is a car in the driveway."

"We will visit you once a month to see how you are doing. Any questions? No? Well then goodbye," Saito said, giving the teenagers no time to talk before they headed out of the mansion.

"Well that was helpful," Sano said after the teenagers heard the car pulling out of the drive way.

"Oh well, we can find out more later," Misao said while pushing herself off the couch. "I'm gonna heat up a Stouffers if anyone wants one." They all requested what they want and Misao went to the kitchen to make dinner.

Kaoru grabbed the remote and turned on the T.V. She started flipping through the channels and finally found MTV. "Anybody mind?" Kaoru asked. The four teenagers shook their heads no.

Megumi opened her book and started to read, Kaoru was singing along with the music, Aoshi seemed to be resting, and Kenshin and Sano were talking.

"Can someone help me here!" came Misao's voice from the kitchen. Kaoru and Kenshin got up to go help her out. The three of them brought the dishes to the kitchen and placed them on the table in front of the fire. They all gathered around the table and ate their dinner.

When they had all finished and placed their silverware and plates in the dishwasher they all gathered around the dinning room table.

"So who's where?" Misao asked.

"I'm on the second floor," Kaoru said.

"Same here," said Kenshin.

"Third," both Sano and Megumi said at the same time and they glared at each other.

"Me and Aoshi are on the fourth floor then," Misao said happily.

"Those two will be perfect for each other," Sano whispered to Kenshin. "Aoshi doesn't talk unless he has to and Misao is bursting with energy and always seems to be talking." Kenshin nodded in reply.

"Aw man!" Everybody looked at Kaoru to see what was going on now. "There's no talent show during this program!" Kaoru told Misao and Megumi miserably.

"That does suck," Megumi said while reading her book.

"That was the only good part of the school year," Misao added on when she noticed all the strange looks the boys were giving them.

"We could make one and have Hiko and Saito judge," Kenshin suggested.

"I have a feeling they're not the best judges in the world," Sano said.

"Then we could have on big party!" Misao said ignoring Sano's remark.

"We could also have a movie marathon," Kaoru added on.

"It could be one big Christmas party!" Misao said. She was now jumping up and down with excitement.

"For the talent show part it can be boys against girls," Kaoru said. "Then we could have girls against girls and boys against boys. Then the two winners would go against each other and then the people who came in second would go against each other and finally the people in third would go against each other."

"So it's like a tournament," Kenshin said.

"Exactly!" Kaoru said smiling. "Anyways! Misao and Megumi I have a really good idea for our dance! I've been thinking about it all summer!"

"Well could you show us later? I really don't feel like moving at the moment," Megumi said, not looking up from her book.

"I'll show you guys tomorrow then," Kaoru said. "I'm heading upstairs."

"I'll head up too," Kenshin said. "We might as well start deciding what our extra room is going to function as," he told Kaoru as they headed out of the kitchen and toward the stairs.

"Yeah, let's go check it out."

They went to the room and opened the door, only to find that it was completely empty.

"It seems that we can do anything we want with it," Kenshin said, looking at the empty room.

"I saw this exhibit when I went to New York two years ago at the Guggenheim Museum. It had a pathway that led out to the middle of the room and was surrounded by water. They also had lights hanging from the ceiling so when you looked down it looked like you were looking in a lake and had fireflies surrounding you. How about we do that except we would use mirrors instead of water. It would just be a place to relax."

Kenshin stood in the door way looking thoughtful. Kaoru chose this moment to study him. His long red hair was held back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. His t-shirt and jeans suited his lean body perfectly. What stood out most were his violet eyes. It's not every day you see someone with violet eyes.

"That sounds like a good idea Kaoru," Kenshin said smiling at her. "Let's go to my room and we can write down what we need and leave it by the door." Kaoru nodded and they both walked to Kenshin's study.

Misao and Aoshi were the next to leave the kitchen. At Misao's suggestion they went to the extra room to decide what to with it. They found their room exactly like Kenshin and Kaoru's. Empty.

"Well… got any ideas?" Misao asked Aoshi only to be rewarded with silence. "Do you like video games?" This time Misao was rewarded with a nod. "Okay then! We can get a big couch and some chairs and a big, flat screed T.V.! Then we could also get a bunch of our favorite games and a PS 1 and 2, an X-box and-"

"You done yet?"

"Oh my god! You talked!"

"You sound like it's a miracle."

Aoshi was looking at Misao with an emotionless glare as if he was trying to make her stop talking. Luck was against him because she wasn't going to stop talking yet. This was a break through with I'm-not-the-talking-type-so-leave-me-alone person of the group! It was a miracle according to her. She started jumping up and down.

"He talked! He talked! He talked! He-"

A hand was clasped over her mouth and another one kept her pressed against the wall. Misao looked up at him surprised. 'Man he's fast! I didn't even see him move!'

"Shut up and calm down." When it seemed that Misao had finally calmed down Aoshi let her go.

"Well, should we go write what we want down?"

For a long time Sano and Megumi just sat on opposite sides of the table just minding their own business. Finally Sano got bored and started going through the refrigerator.

"We've barely got any food at the moment because you ate it all. I would prefer it if I knew there was something left for at least lunch for the rest of the week."

Sano turned around to glare at Megumi. "I wasn't going to eat anything."

"Then why were you rummaging through the refrigerator?"

"I was bored."

"Then we can talk about what we're going to do with that extra room they gave us."

"Can't we do that tomorrow?" Sano implored Megumi.

"No. You're going to keep pushing it back unless we do it now. Let's go check it out." When Megumi realized that Sano wasn't following her she turned around and glared at Sano. "_Now_!"

"Jesus I'm coming!" Sano said closing the refrigerator door quickly. He angrily walked up the stairs and towards the extra room that had been left to them. He stood at the door and waited for Megumi to come up. 'She can open the door if she wants to do this so badly,' Sano thought angrily.

Megumi came up the stairs and opened the door calmly. They both looked through the doorway and realized that the room was completely empty. "Good we can make it a library."

"Arcade."

"Library."

"Arcade."

They went back and forth like this for about five minutes, neither of them wanting to give up.

"Fine! We'll put bookshelves on the perimeter of the room and have arcade games in the middle! Happy!" Megumi said angrily.

"Fine with me," Sano said.

"Good then you can make the list as to what colors it's going to be and what games we're going to have. I'll write my list of books and as for book shelves to cover the room."

"Hey! You left me with more work to do!" Sano yelled angrily at Megumi's retreating floor. "Well this is going to be fun," Sano thought as he slammed his bedroom door behind him.


	4. Work And More Work

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Rurouni Kenshin!

**A/N:** I'm supposed to be studying for exams right now… Oh well. Don't have anything else to say…

**Mansion of Secrets**

**Work And More Work**

"Look what arrived," Misao told Kaoru as she walked sleepily into the dinning room. There on the dinning room table was a box labeled "Girls".

"I was enjoying having no homework," Kaoru said as she sat down. It looked as if someone had already made her some hot chocolate and toast.

"I think we all were," Kenshin said as he entered the room. He took a seat next to Kaoru and glanced at the box that was labeled "Boys".

"I won't mind watching the movies," Sano said sitting on Kaoru's other side.

"I'd rather read the books," Megumi said as she took a seat next to Misao and across from Sano.

"I never see you without one," Sano muttered under his breath.

"I don't believe that," Megumi said.

"Why?"

"I don't have one with me right now."

"It's a miracle!" Misao and Sano said at the same time.

"I've had enough miracles," Aoshi said.

"He talked again!" Misao and Sano said at the same time.

"Just leave him alone," Kenshin said as Aoshi shot Misao and Sano glares.

The six of them sat silently for the rest of breakfast. The girls finished before the boys, so they put their plates away and brought their box to Kaoru's study. There they opened the box and took all of the stuff out of it.

"Okay let's listen to their favorite songs right now," Kaoru said as she turned on her computer. It loaded and then she opened up her itunes. She happened to have all the songs and played them one at a time. When that was done they took out the books and stacked them in piles.

"I'll do all of Aoshi's stuff," Misao said after they stared at the piles of books for a little bit. "I'll go save us the living room." With that she picked up her books and ran upstairs to drop them off in her room before heading down to the library.

"I'll take Kenshin's stuff," Kaoru said. "It'll give you less to read and more time to do what you want," she told Megumi when she gave her a strange look.

"Fine with me," Megumi said. She grabbed her stuff and headed upstairs.

"What took you so long?" Misao asked Kaoru when she arrived in the living room fifteen minutes later.

"What are they doing here?" Kaoru asked pointing to the boys with a blue folder.

"We asked if we could watch the movies together since it will take you a while to finish watching your movies and they're our favorite movies anyways," Kenshin replied. "Besides, what's in that folder?"

"This my friends," Kaoru said pointing at the folder in question, "is what took me fifteen minutes."

"What's in it?" Sano asked.

"Homework, my dear Watson. Beautiful, wonderful, homework." Everyone groaned when they heard this.

"When's it due?" Megumi asked.

"Tomorrow. All twenty, white and black, torturous pages are due tomorrow." This received another groan from the teenagers.

"Anybody want popcorn?" Misao asked only to discover that Aoshi had eaten everything.

Five bowls of popcorn, three movies, and a Stouffers lunch later they decided to take a break. Misao went to get more popcorn, Aoshi leaned back in the coach, Sano and Kenshin stretched, Megumi started to read And Then There Were None, and Kaoru started her homework only to give up quickly. Kaoru got up and went to the garden.

Two minutes later she found herself in her favorite spot. Before her was a water fall located in the back, left corner of the garden. She went behind the waterfall and entered the cave. She sat down on a rock and leaned against the cool walls. She listened to the water as it fell past the cliff. Slowly she relaxed her body and forced everything out of her mind. She sat like that for five minutes, until she heard Misao calling for her to come back. Sighing reluctantly she got up and headed back to the others.

"What movie do you want to watch?" Kenshin asked Kaoru as she entered the living room.

"What about The Fugitive?"

Sano tossed Kaoru the DVD and she placed it in the DVD player. Resuming her place on the floor Kaoru made herself comfortable and prepared herself for the four movies left to come. 'At least we're going to watch all of Star Wars tomorrow,' Kaoru thought. 'I wouldn't be able to stand it if I had to watch them today.'

Kenshin was woken up by someone knocking on his door. "Come in!" he said.

The door opened to reveal Kaoru standing there, folder and pencil in hand. She looked both tired and frustrated at the same time. "Wanna work together?" she asked, pointing to the work spread out on his desk. Kenshin nodded his head. "I've finished everything except for the sudoku," she said while pulling up a chair and placing her stuff on his desk.

"Same here," Kenshin said.

"What did you figure out?" she asked.

"Well…"

"Finished!" Kaoru shouted and triumphantly placed her piece of paper into her folder. Kenshin leaned back in his chair gratefully.

They had worked on the sudoku together for an hour. It was now twelve o'clock.

"See you tomorrow," Kaoru said while trying to suppress a yawn as Kenshin opened his door.

"Try to make it back to your room safely!" Kenshin yelled after her as she stumbled her way down the hall towards her bedroom.

Megumi sat at her desk, drumming her pencil against it. She didn't usually have problems with math homework but this was an exception. 'I hope it doesn't get any harder than this,' Megumi thought as she leaned over the sudoku once more. Just as Megumi thought she had figured something out someone knocked on her door, causing her to lose all train of thought.

"What!"

"Mind helping me out?" Sano asked as he opened the door.

"Of course, the idiot."

"I heard that!"

"Well sit down! I don't have all night!"

"I'm sitting! Jesus!"

"So what do you want help with?" Megumi asked Sano once she was able to calm herself down.

"The math homework."

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that."

"Well too bad for you. Well I've figured most of it out but I can't finish the last three boxes on the left."

"You figured out more than me," Megumi said.

"Just goes to show how much smarter I am," Sano said proudly.

"Well lucky for you," Megumi said paying no attention to Sano's remark, "I was able to figure out the left column."

"So we just copy each others work and check to make sure it works?"

"You got it."

"Thanks for the help Aoshi!" Misao said as Aoshi left her study. They had worked on the homework together. Then they had sat there and listened to Sano's shouts of frustration.

'I just wish he would talk more. It was kind of frustrating to sit there in silence except for when one of us needed help and asked a question. My goal this year is making Aoshi talk more often.'

With that thought in her head Misao headed to her bedroom, changed, and climbed into bed. All the while she was thinking about different ways to make Aoshi talk.


	5. Happy Anniversary

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Rurouni Kenshin!

**A/N:** Sorry that it took so long but midterms were two weeks ago (I know it's actually a long time ago) and my uncle's out of the hospital (jumps around in joy he can walk by himself! …sorry .;) so the chapters should be coming a bit more regularly. Enjoy! Oh yeah, incase you're all wondering it's mid-October now.

**Mansion of Secrets**

**Happy Anniversary**

"It wasn't that hard," Saito said as he collected the reports that everyone had made on their respected book or books.

"It wasn't hard it just took _forever_," Misao said.

"Even Misao wasn't jumping around the place," Sano said while trying to stifle a yawn.

"Can you just give us the next assignment and leave us alone?" Kaoru asked.

"You don't like us?" Hiko asked.

"I don't mind you, but I do mind him!" Kaoru said while pointing an angry finger at Saito.

"The feelings' mutual raccoon girl," Saito said while flipping through the reports.

"Now that's it!" Kaoru said while rolling up her sleeve. She was about to punch Saito, only to be held back by Kenshin and Misao.

"Calm down Kaoru," Megumi said from her position on the couch. "I'm trying to finish a book here."

"You're always trying to finish a book," Sano muttered under his breath.

"That's because, unlike you, I enjoy reading and actually learning something useful besides how to play a video game.

"Well at least I know how to enjoy myself!" Sano said.

"Well what if I enjoy reading?"

"Shut up!"

"Well anyways," Hiko said, "We are here to do other things than argue. You're next assignment is another group project. You will work with the person on your floor to research a topic that we will decide on later."

"What's the point of telling us about this if we have no idea what we're going to be researching?" Sano asked under his breathe.

"So that you won't be surprised when we give the really complex topic," Saito said.

"Will you please let me finish? Anyways you will all be researching the same topic so that we don't have to buy too many books. You are allowed to use the internet to help you research the topic and will end up writing a five to seven page essay. The font size will be Times New Roman size 12. It will be single space with no lines in between paragraphs. The margins will be standard size," Hiko said while counting everything off on his fingers.

"What's with all the details?" Misao asked confused.

"In case some of those mischievous people among you try to do anything," Saito said while glaring at Sanosuke.

"Hey!"

"You two are giving me a headache."

Everyone turned to stare at Aoshi who was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. They stayed like that for a minute or so until Aoshi opened his eyes and glared at them. Everyone turned away guiltily.

"You'll get your folders tomorrow," Saito said as he and Hiko walked out of the mansion and closed the doors behind them.

"So why did you decide to have this meeting Misao?"

It was later in the day and all the girls were gathered in Kaoru's room since they didn't want to disturb Aoshi and both Sano and Kenshin were playing arcade games on the third floor. They were all lying on the floor, surrounded by pillows.

"I just thought that we should have a girl-to-girl chat," Misao said in reply to Megumi's question.

"About what?" Kaoru asked.

"About how we're going to beet the boys in a dancing competition," Misao said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Do we have to start now?" Kaoru asked. True she had already had a few ideas in mind but she really didn't feel like practicing right now.

"Oh come on! You know how much work we'll have to put into this if we're going to win the hearts of these boys!"

Kaoru started to choke on some invisible thing and Megumi glared at Misao. "What do you mean by 'we'?"

"Oh come on! You know you like Sano!" Misao said.

"I do not!" Megumi yelled back angrily at Misao.

"In denial now are we? Don't worry, we've seen the way you look at him when you two aren't arguing," Kaoru said, suddenly over her coughing fit.

"I am not in denial thank you very much!" Megumi said while a blush found its way to her cheeks.

"Then why are you blushing?" Kaoru asked.

"Oh leave me alone!" Megumi groaned as she fell back onto some pillows and covered her face in her hands.

"So then let's start dancing!" Misao said, causing both girls to groan in reply. "Oh come on! You know you need the work out!"

"I hate it when she gets fitness into this whole mess," Megumi whispered to Kaoru.

"Yeah, me too," Kaoru whispered back. Out loud she said, "Well I've been thinking about doing a dance to Don't Cha."

"Love it!" exclaimed Misao as she grabbed Megumi's hand and started to drag her out of the room. "We're going to go change!"

Kaoru sighed and brought out the dance bars from her closet before going into the bathroom to changer herself.

Kenshin and Sano we're playing arcade games when they heard Misao drag Megumi into her room and slam the door shut only to open it soon afterwards and drag her upstairs to her room and then back downstairs again.

"Do you ever wonder how Misao has so much energy?" Sano asked Kenshin.

"I have but soon gave up," Kenshin replied.

"I've come to the conclusion that she steals it from Megumi," Sano said while expertly steering Pac Man away from the evil ghosts that he had disliked ever since he first seen the game at his favorite arcade.

"Megumi seems to have plenty of energy when need be," Kenshin said while keeping his eyes on the pinball as it bounced around its cage.

"I think she only uses it to yell at me," Sano said.

"The same goes for you."

"What the hell do you mean by that!" Sano said and looked up from his game.

"It means that you find it fun to argue with her," Kenshin said not looking up from his game.

"I do not! If I did it would be because she's the only one around here who doesn't give in easily," Sanosuke said while glaring at Kenshin.

"I'm only stating what I see," Kenshin said while a slight blush made its way up his cheeks.

Sano turned his attention back to his game, only to watch in horror as the annoying red ghost devoured his beloved Pac Man.

Kaoru sighed longingly as she resisted the urge to turn the water back on. Stepping out of the shower she quickly turned on the heat and grinned as she felt warmth surround her once again.

She grabbed the change of clothes that she had left by the sink and pulled them on. She then quickly brushed her hair and put it back up in a ponytail. After hanging her towel on the towel rack, she turned off the heater and went into her room to put the dance bars back in the closet.

Kaoru sat on her bed and stared out the window onto the grounds below her. It was sunset and the sky consisted of beautiful shades of pink and red, accenting the vibrant shades of the red and gold leaves. The leaves danced with the wind as their accompaniment, every now and then picking up the pace as the wind grew high in volume. Kaoru remembered how she used to dance with the leaves. Her parents would stand on the porch and watch her as the wind picked up the leaves and twirled them around her feet, surrounding her in a curtain of red and golden hues. Sometimes her dad would film her and her mom would join her in the dance. It had been relaxing when she was young, getting rid of all the fears she didn't know she had.

Kaoru heard flap to the mail slot close softly and decided to go downstairs to get the mail. She got out of bed and quickly made her way down the stairs and scooped up the letters on the floor. She delivered the letters to all the occupants of the house and was surprised when she realized that there was one for herself. She entered her room, closing the door softly behind her, as she flipped the letter around to see if there was a return address only to discover that there was none. She sat on her bed and looked out the window one more time before she opened the letter to discover that the color of the sky had turned a dark red.

Turning her attention back to the envelope, Kaoru slipped one delicate finger under the slap of the envelope and tore it open. She gasped and her heartbeat quickened just from the sight of those two words printed in red ink.

_Happy Anniversary._

**Reviews! Don't you love them? Probably not but anyways…**

**LORD-BIG-DOGGIE:** Kaoru will most likely end up asking Kenshin about swords but probably much later. I assume Sano and Megumi will stop yelling at each other, either because they get tired of it or because they get laryngitis. I'll probably make up some embarrassing things along the way but I do have some stuff planned for them.

**nilnil:** I can't explain why they were chosen right now but I can assure you that you'll find out later.


	6. The Past

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Rurouni Kenshin!

**A/N:** I think I got the articles of clothing right but I'm not sure… .; Anyways! R&R!

**Mansion of Secrets**

**The Past**

Kaoru stared at the card for a little bit longer. The crimson words jumped out of the page and pressed themselves into her mind, not letting her think about anything else. She had forgotten today was the day and was mad at herself for it. How can one forget the day their parents died?

Someone knocked on the door and Kaoru jumped in surprise.

"Dinner's ready Kaoru!" came Misao's voice from the other side.

"I'll be there in a moment!" Kaoru called back and listened as Misao walked away from her door and down the stairs.

After she was sure that Misao wouldn't return, Kaoru slowly brought the piece of paper out from underneath the pillow. Kaoru walked over to her closet and opened one the drawer that contained a pack of matches. Letter and matches in hand, Kaoru walked into her bathroom and placed the letter in the sink. She then struck a match and threw it into the sink with the letter knowing that the polished marble wouldn't get marked by the fire.

As soon as the letter started to burn she turned her back on the sink and made her way towards the door. Before walking out of the door she turned off the light, and turned on the vent just incase someone came into her room later. She closed the door behind her, leaving the letter to burn brightly in the darkness, as well as the fear and the memories that the letter had brought with it.

Kaoru walked up behind Misao and Megumi who were sitting next to each other at the dining room table. "Thanks," Kaoru whispered to them as she hugged them both. "I must be a terrible daughter, not remembering the day of my parents' deaths."

"You're not a terrible daughter," Misao told Kaoru as she turned around in her seat to hug her sad friend.

"A car crash where your parents died isn't something that anyone would want to remember. It's perfectly natural to try to forget," Megumi said.

"Besides, Megumi and I have forgotten the dates of our parents' deaths," Misao stated.

"Yeah, but your parents died when you were children. Mine died a year ago," Kaoru said.

Just then the three boys came in from the kitchen carrying dinner. Kaoru smiled sadly at her two friends before quickly sitting down next to Misao. She smiled appreciatively at Kenshin as he placed her plate down in front of her before continuing to his own seat.

Kaoru sat through dinner quietly. Sometimes she would pay attention to the conversations around her, and other times she would be absorbed in thought. Misao and Megumi would keep on sending her worried looks. It seemed that Aoshi was constantly staring at her after Kenshin had asked her a question and she had needed to ask him to repeat the question because she hadn't heard him. Kenshin would occasionally send her a curious glance while Sano seemed to be completely oblivious as to what was going on.

Kaoru excused herself from dinner and everyone watched her silently as she placed her plate in the kitchen. They listened as her footsteps became softer as she made her way to the staircase.

"What's up with Kaoru?" Sano asked, breaking the silence. Everyone looked at him in surprise. "I'm not that stupid! She was completely silent! Who wouldn't notice?"

"Her parents died in a car crash last year. We tried to help her as much as we could but our parents died when we were young so we don't exactly remember what it feels like. We were lucky to have relatives to live with but Kaoru doesn't have anyone so she's living by herself," Megumi explained to the boys.

"It seems like we all have something in common," Kenshin told the girls after looking at the two boys next to him. "Sano's mom died of cancer when he was ten. My parents were killed in a plain crash when I was seven. Aoshi had to kill his own parents in self-defense."

"No wonder he doesn't talk," Misao muttered to herself under her breath, only to receive a glare from Aoshi.

"However, we're all different from Kaoru because we've had someone to live with and take care of us," Kenshin continued. 'Even if they only live to make fun of you when you're not in public,' Kenshin thought as a certain foster father appeared in his head.

"She's probably been suffering in her own grief." Aoshi said. Everyone could only nod in agreement, sadness evident in their facial expressions.

"Can you imagine? Being the only survivor of a car crash? Living everyday knowing that you survived and you're parents didn't? It must be terrible," Megumi said.

'If only you knew,' Kaoru thought as she leaned against the wall next to the dinning room door. A tear made it's way dawn her face, only to fall and land silently on the floor.

_Blood was everywhere. On the walls, the floor, even on the ceiling. Two bodies laid lifeless on the floor. There were sword wounds all over the bodies. Blood no longer came out of the cuts since there was nothing to pump it. The lungs no longer drew in breath since there was no fresh blood flowing through the veins brining them oxygen._

_A girl screamed. Whether from sadness, fear, shock, or pain it is impossible to tell. Her vision was red from the blood that fell over her eyes from the wound on her forehead. She bent over the bodies and cried. Her salt tears mixing with the blood in her eyes._

_She turned around when she heard footsteps behind her. She wiped the tears and the blood away from her eyes before turning around and glaring at the three people in front of her._

_All of them were men. One of them was covered in bandages and seemed to be wearing a hakama and a haori over one shoulder. The smirk on his face never seemed to disappear. He held his sword tightly in his right hand._

_The man to his right was wearing a blue hakama and haori. He was constantly smiling which was really starting to annoy the girl. He carried his sword casually over his right shoulder._

_The last man appeared to be blind. He had a piece of cloth covering his eyes. His hakama and haori were covered with eyes. Instead of carrying a sword he had a weapon that had a spear on one end and a heavy, metal ball on the other. He also carried a large turtle shell on his back which he used as a shield._

"_Ready to die little girl?" the first man asked._

_The girl reached over her father's body and grabbed his fallen sword. Gripping it tightly in her hands she got into a fighting stance._

"_You think you can beet me little girl? I'll just have to make your death slow and painful then," the man said as he charged at her and swung his sword down upon her. The girl quickly blocked the attack and the man moved back. He approached her again, and again she raised her sword to block the attack. However, the man changed the angle of his swing at the last moment and reached around her to cut her back with his sword._

_The girl hissed in pain as the man removed his sword from her back. The men started to laugh as she sunk to her knees, pain spreading quickly throughout her body. Getting fed up with the laughing the girl rose shakily to her feet._

_Before she had the chance to defend herself the man had attacked her again from behind. Even though she couldn't see it the girl knew that the new wound plus the previous one had created an 'X' on her back._

_The man was about to attack her again but police sirens could be heard in the distance._

Kaoru jerked up in bead breathing heavily. Her body was covered in sweat even though it was cold inside the room. Kaoru shivered and her hand unconsciously traced the 'X' shaped scar on her back. Tears started to fall down her face as her dream resurfaced in her head.

Some things were just not meant to be remembered.


	7. Protect Me

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Rurouni Kenshin!

**A/N:** Here it is!

**Mansion of Secrets**

**Protect Me**

Kaoru waited impatiently for Saito and Hiko to finish giving them their essay topic. They needed to talk, _immediately_.

She kept on glancing at the clock and drumming her fingers on her lap. Kaoru sighed in relief as Saito and Hiko began to wrap up their essay discussion.

"Good luck," Saito said. He and Hiko watched as all the teenagers walked out of the living room to do whatever they wanted to do. Saito glanced at Hiko and Hiko nodded. He had noticed Kaoru's impatience as well.

They walked out into the main hall and weren't surprised to see Kaoru standing alone by the stairwell. Without a word they followed her upstairs and into her study. Saito and Hiko sat in the two chairs by the desk and Kaoru sat in the window seat.

Silence fell over them as Kaoru stared out of the window and into the dark sky. The rain beat heavily against the window while lightening illuminated the room.

In that brief moment both men noticed the changes that had come over Kaoru. Her lips were pursed tightly. Her skin was paler and her hair seemed to hang limply in its ponytail. Her eyes were full of pain and terror, but underneath all of that was a glint of determination.

"You wanted me to forget about them, didn't you."

Thunder was heard after Kaoru's sharp words. The wind howled in what sounded like grief and anger. The rain fell harder against the window. Whether because of the wind or because the tension in the room had messed with the occupant's minds it was hard to tell.

"We also wanted to protect you," Hiko told the girl sitting in front of him.

"Answer my question!" Kaoru ordered angrily while glaring at the two men in front of her.

"It was more of a statement," Saito said while pulling out a cigarette.

"Don't you dare smoke in here, and stop fooling around!" Kaoru said while focusing her glare on the indifferent Saito who put his cigarette away.

"It would have been better for you to have forgotten until we had caught the murderers," Hiko said while quickly glancing at Saito.

"What caused you to remember?" Saito asked Kaoru curiously.

"I received a letter."

Saito and Hiko glanced at each other warily. Hiko hesitated before asking, "Who was it from?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kaoru asked with a smirk on her face.

"This isn't a game Kaoru," Saito said with a slight hint of irritation in his voice.

"You want to protect me correct?" Both men remained quiet. "How the hell is this protection! Where can I get help? Who can protect me from that sadistic bastard and his fuckin' followers!"

There was a pause after Kaoru's sudden outburst. She angrily wiped away the tears that were falling down her face. Saito and Hiko waited for her to continue since they knew that she wouldn't be able to keep her façade for much longer.

"He wrote the letter," Kaoru whispered miserably.

"Did it have a symbol on it? Like the 'X' on your back?" Hiko asked.

"No."

"Then how do you know it was from him?" Saito asked.

"Who else writes 'happy anniversary' in red ink in an anonymous letter that just happens to arrive on the day of your parents' death?"

"It could be a coincidence," Saito said casually which caused him to receive a glare from Kaoru.

"Do you still have the letter with you?" Hiko asked the annoyed girl.

"Burned it."

"Stupid raccoon girl."

Kaoru was too upset and angry to take offense from Saito's comment. She sighed and turned to look out the window. She had just realized the excellent points of this plan. She would disappear on some new interschool program that no one had heard of before. Therefore no one would know of her location besides the people who were taking care of the program. No one could inquire about her location without looking suspicious.

"Look, I'm sorry," Kaoru said while turning around to face the two men in front of her. "It really is a good idea. I guess I just freaked out and over reacted. I just want to know who's going to protect me when you guys aren't here."

"I believe we will need our little eavesdropper to come in for this part," Hiko said while glancing at the door. "You can come in now Kenshin!"

"How did you know I was there?" Kenshin asked Hiko after he'd closed the door behind him.

"I'm you're sensei you baka," Hiko said while glaring at Kenshin. "Besides, I saw you watching us from outside your room, and knowing you I knew you would come and find out what was happening. I had also noticed that you had taken not of Kaoru's impatience during our meeting downstairs. Now sit down."

Kenshin glanced over at Kaoru as he sat down on the ground. She was different from the girl that had become his friend. Her once happy eyes had become sad yesterday when she had realized that it was the day her parents had died. They had been angry earlier today as Saito and Hiko had explained their essay topic. Now they were full of misery, pain, and fear. There was only a faint glimmer of what her eyes used to be.

"What exactly is going on?" Kenshin asked suspiciously while glancing at Kaoru who turned her head away from his gaze.

"What do you know?" Saito asked Kenshin lazily.

"I know that Kaoru's parents died about a year ago. I was told that they died in a car crash, but I believe that that isn't the case. I also remember that Hiko had a case at about the same time in which two people were killed and one was seriously injured and that it has yet to be solved. I'm guessing that this has something to do with Kaoru."

"As perceptive as ever," Saito muttered under his breath.

"I understand that Hiko is Kenshin's sensei in some way, but unless Kenshin is studying to become a detective I don not see how he would know about the case. From what I can see you two aren't exactly best friends, and therefore Kenshin wouldn't know about the case," Kaoru said while glancing between the two.

"She's perceptive too," Saito muttered under his breath again.

"He's my foster son as well as my baka apprentice," Hiko answered Kaoru's unasked question.

Silence fell over the room again as everyone sat and thought about what was going on. The rain started to lessen as the thunder could be heard in the distance. The damp leaves rustled softly in the gentle breeze.

Kenshin sighed and ran his hand through his long red hair. "I should tell the others about this," Kenshin said while rising out of his position on the floor. He hesitated when he noticed the fear that had risen in Kaoru's eyes. He didn't want to cause her more pain than that of which she already had.

"Sit down Kenshin," Saito said forcefully.

"They have the right to know," Kenshin argued. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kaoru lower her head. "They are her friends as well. They're worried about her."

"If you go tell them about this case then I will tell everyone about the time when you were eleven and-"

"But that's blackmail Hiko!" Kenshin whined which caused Kaoru to crack a small smile.

"Your point?" Hiko asked Kenshin lazily.

"It's illegal," Kenshin said while placing his hands on his hips.

"So?" Hiko asked. "It's a common and effective way of getting people to do what you want them to do."

"I could sue you for this," Kenshin said.

"Then I'll just tell everyone all of your little secrets when I'm on the witness stand." Hiko replied. "I think I'll tell them about that time when you were nine and we went to the park. I still makes me laugh when "

"Okay, I get it! Just don't say anything!" Kenshin said quickly as a blush made its way up his cheeks. "Meanie."

"Baka."

"Will you two shut up already? You're giving me a headache. Rooster head was already enough?" Saito said angrily while massaging his temples.

Kenshin sighed and sat back down. "So I'm going to be the one to protect her when you two are gone?" Kenshin asked.

"You and everyone else in this house. However, you will be the one to help Kaoru perfect her sword fighting skills," Hiko said.

"I do not know what kind of sword fighting she uses," Kenshin said.

"We found a bunch of security footage of Kaoru's father's fights. You should be able to get the hang of her style of fighting from that," Saito said while taking out two videos from his brief case.

"Did you ever take lessons?" Kenshin asked Kaoru.

"No I didn't, but I would watch my father's lessons and then practice later in my room," Kaoru informed him. "My parents didn't think it was proper for a girl to learn how to fight with a sword. They were old fashioned in some ways."

"Anything else?" Kenshin asked Hiko and Saito.

"You should teach Kaoru how to use a gun," Saito told Kenshin.

"Will it really come down to that?" Kaoru asked quietly. Kenshin looked at Kaoru worriedly. Her eyes were full of fear and shock, Kenshin noticed that her body was shaking slightly.

"It might," Hiko said which only caused Kaoru to shake even more.

"I'm sure it won't come to that," Kenshin told Kaoru reassuringly. He sighed in relief as she stopped shaking and the fear was replaced with hopefulness in her eyes.

"If it is necessary we will have you teach everyone else how to use a gun," Saito said.

"Megumi doesn't no how to fight!" Kaoru exclaimed suddenly. "Why did you bring her here? She will only be in danger!"

"She is training to be a doctor and takes yoga. Her skills and calmness will be useful in battle," Saito said.

"You make it sound like battle is inevitable," Kenshin stated.

"It most likely is" Hiko informed him.

There was a short silence as everything sunk in. The rain slowly began to stop and the sun was visible in the horizon as night approached. Beautiful shades of red and gold were spread across the sky. Kenshin noticed that Kaoru's eyes were now full of hope and determination.

"We'll be leaving now. Kaoru, I recommend training in the room in the back of the cave. Here are the keys," Saito said before tossing both teens as pair of keys. The door closed behind the two men leaving the two teenagers alone in the room.

"Thank you Kenshin," Kaoru said softly which caused Kenshin to give her a bright smile.

Kaoru couldn't help but give him a small smile in return.


	8. We'll Never Forget

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Rurouni Kenshin!!!

**A/N:** Sorry that it took longer than I thought it would to update, but I had two big essays which I had to write and the only interesting part was finding out stuff about Japanese Internment. Anyways I'm sorry it took so long. The style of writing is different in this chapter (at least for the flashbacks) because someone in my class wrote a vignette like this last year about how it was like when she was in the hospital for cancer treatment and I liked the way it sounded. Well here's the next chapter. Also, I know that Shishio didn't really do any of the stuff listed below, so just live with me here people.

**Mansion of Secrets**

**We'll Never Forget**

"_We'll be home soon honey!"_

_The smiles and hugs…_

_The door is slammed shut._

_Later that night a window is opened._

_A boy is delighted that his parents are home…_

_The lights…_

_A crash._

_An explosion._

_Metal is melting…_

_Glass is flying…_

_A piece flies through the window and hits his cheek._

_The pain is unbearable but he seems not to notice._

_Instead he stares out in shock._

_He can see the outline of his parents' bodies…_

_And he can tell…_

_They're dead._

_He tries to scream but his voice is dry._

_His mother's hand is hanging out the window and seems to be pointing._

_Slowly he follows the path of his mother's finger._

_A figure wrapped in bandages meets his eyes._

_This time the scream comes out._

The scream rang in her ears as Kaoru shot up out of bed. Although scream was muffled since it came from outside her room it rang throughout . She quickly got out of bed and opened the door, she was able to figure out the direction the scream was coming from before it ended. Her feet made soft noises as they hit the carpeted floor.

_Tip Tap_

_Tip Tap_

She stopped suddenly in front of a door and put her ear towards the keyhole. She held her breath as she tried to make sense of the noises happening behind the door.

A rustle of sheets.

A shuddering sigh.

_A sigh of content escaped his lips._

_He watched her as she ran around the happily._

_Her usually refined self gave away to the child in her._

_He delicate hands grabbed his and gave a slight tug._

_He looked up into her shinning eyes…_

_Brown met amethyst._

_A genuine smile graced his lips as she began to pull him up._

_A glint of silver…_

_Strong arms pulled her out of the way of the dagger._

_Bang!_

_He forgot about the dagger coming towards him_

_Instead he stood there in shock._

_The puddle of red continued to grow…_

_She took in one last breath…_

_Then the puddle stopped growing._

_A river of red formed on his cheek…_

_The dagger having hit its mark._

_A new line was formed…_

_An 'X' replaced the line._

_Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a figure in white_

_But at the time his mind didn't register it._

_Two memories instead of one._

_Three lives instead of two._

A strangled cry came from the other side of the door and Kaoru slowly opened the door. Moonlight filled the otherwise dark room. It reflected off the sword leaning against the far wall next to the bed. The shine caught Kaoru's attention, the pure white that was glistening off the sword.

Another strangled cry and rustling of sheets brought her back to reality as she focused her gaze on the figure on the bed. Red hair stuck to his face, his body damp with sweat. His eyes were squeezed shut, his mouth drawn into a thing line.

Kaoru walked over to the bed and sat down. She gently shook the older boy to try and wake him up. She was about to shake his shoulder again when she felt a hand wrap itself firmly around her wrist. Sapphire met amethyst.

"Kenshin…"

He blinked and looked into her worried gaze. Memories resurfaced as he remembered the days when the same thing would happen. The only difference was that the eyes were normally brown. Not to mention it would be the middle of class instead of the middle of the night. But now she was gone.

"Kenshin… is there something wrong?"

"No."

"Don't lie to me."

He looked up in shock. He was accustomed to the soft sweet voice, not the angry and demanding one.

"Sometimes it's better to tell people what happened instead of keeping it to yourself."

"You've kept your secrets to yourself so why can't I?" he asked in a slightly angry voice.

"I've kept a diary. I've written stories and posted them on the internet. I've gotten rid of some of the pain but you haven't."

A silence fell over them as Kaoru stared at Kenshin. Her sapphire eyes bore into his, and suddenly he felt guilty. He felt guilty that he didn't tell anyone what had happened those days. He felt guilty for not telling his own stepfather what had happened when all he wanted to do was help.

"All the people close to me were murdered."

He waited for her to gasp from shock or horror but nothing happed. Instead he saw encouragement in her eyes. She wanted to help him. She wanted to help him get rid of the pain, the pain that had burdened him for thirteen years.

"First it was my parents. They had gone out for dinner and left me at home with some dominoes pizza and permission to do basically whatever I wanted to do. Two hours later I heard a care coming down the street and I opened the window so that I could greet them as the pulled into driveway. That's when I noticed the other car."

He stopped and took a deep breath trying to calm himself down. He felt her hand cover his and she gave it a slight squeeze telling him to continue.

"The car was speeding down the street and it crashed into my parents' car before they were able to avoid it. I watched in horror as the cars exploded and the pieces of glass flew all over the place. That's how I got this," he said while fingering the scar he had gotten from the incident. "Two years ago my girlfriend and I were walking through the park at night. All of a sudden I saw a dagger making its way towards her and I pushed her out of the way so that she wouldn't be hit. That's when the gun went off. The bullet hit her right above the heart. She died almost instantly. I was too shocked to dodge the dagger and the cut formed into the second scar."

All of a sudden he felt arms wrap around his body as Kaoru pulled him into a hug. Tears were streaming out of her eyes but her voice was firm when she spoke.

"We'll never forget what has happened, but we shouldn't let those memories rule our lives. I'm sure that they wouldn't have wanted you to live a happy life, just like me and everyone else in this house."

Slowly Kenshin wrapped his arms around her as he felt a relief flood through his body. She was right. It felt better to tell someone about what had happened. He was also sure that she was right about his loved ones wanting him to lead a happy life. However, a figure wrapped in white bandages flashed through his head.

'He murdered her family too,' he thought sadly as he looked down at the crying girl in his arms.

"Kaoru," he said softly.

"Yes?"

He looked into her eyes. They were filled with pain and misery, not only for herself but for Kenshin also.

"Never mind."

'It can wait for another time,' he thought as he gave her a reassuring squeeze.


	9. Chaos

**A/N:** I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo sorry that it took this long! I am so lazy! --;; Anyways, you can yell at me all you want and I'll try to be quicker next time since school's out. I also decided that instead of having Kenshin calling Kaoru Kaoru-dono he would call her Kaoru-san because… well it's the 21st century so it just sounds weird… (or maybe that's just me…) Anyways… please R&R!

**Disclaimer:** How many times am I going to have to say this? sighs I do not own Rurouni Kenshin!

* * *

**Mansion of Secrets**

**Chaos

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**

_One month later… (It is now October.)_

"SAGARA SANOSUKE! GET DOWN HERE THIS MINUTE!"

Kenshin looked over to his friend and saw him wincing at the sound of Megumi's voice. "You didn't eat all the food again, did you?" Kenshin asked.

"Well I didn't eat _all _of it…" Sanosuke trailed off when he noticed his friend's glare. "I ate everything except the leftovers from the meal Kaoru made last night."

Kenshin sighed and shook his head at his friend's folly. "Just go down there and get it over with," Kenshin said while pushing Sano out of his bedroom.

"Traitor," Sano muttered under his breath as Kenshin gave him one final push out of the door. Sano was about to head down the stairs when Kenshin poked his head out of his room and called out to him.

"Hey Sano! Do you know where Aoshi is?"

Sano paused for a moment deep in thought, his foot halfway down the stair. "I think he's off with Misao somewhere," he replied at last.

"Thanks," Kenshin said before disappearing back into his room.

"No prob," Sano muttered as he walked down the 'stairs of doom' as he had now dubbed them.

* * *

Kenshin knocked on the door to Aoshi's room. "Come in," came Aoshi's voice from the other side of the door. Kenshin turned the handle with his right hand while holding his sword in his left hand. He was not surprised to see Misao sitting on the bed with math books scattered around her as Aoshi sat in a chair nearby. It was common knowledge in the household (if you could really call it a household) that Misao had some how managed to convince the uncaring Aoshi to tutor her in math. However, Aoshi seemed more miserable than usual; it wasn't hard to notice the angry looks he kept on shooting at Misao who was sitting happily on the bed.

"What do you want Himura?" Aoshi asked while sending a glare at Misao.

"I was wondering if you could help me with Kaoru-san's training." It was also known that Kenshin was helping Kaoru with her sword skills. Originally the girls had only noticed that Kaoru would disappear for about and hour four times a week. Same went for the boys with Kenshin. Eventually, for some odd reason, Sano and Megumi had a discussion about this and realized that Kaoru and Kenshin had been disappearing at the same time. They then told the others and together they ambushed Kenshin and Kaoru one day as they were coming into the house after practice and forced them to tell them what was happening. Fortunately they had decided to practice outside that day so they had been able to conceal the fact that they usually practiced inside the cave in the garden.

"How exactly?" Aoshi asked coldly.

"So far I haven't really been able to watch Kaoru-san's form during an actual battle since I've been focusing on aiming towards the area we were working on at the moment. I really need to see her over all form and find her weaknesses so that we can work on them. Will you please help me?"

This time Aoshi glared at Misao long and hard (not even bothering to disguise it) and she just smiled happily at him. Kenshin was about to ask what was wrong when shouting could be heard from downstairs.

"GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE SANOSUKE!"

"HELL NO!"

Sounds of a scuffle could be heard from downstairs and all three occupants immediately focused on what was happening below.

"THAT'S NOT FAIR! PUT DOWN THE BIKE!"

"KUSO!"

Misao and Kenshin winced as sounds of a human body being flung against a wall where heard from downstairs. Meanwhile Aoshi was glaring through the floor to where the sounds where coming from.

"Let's go before I get a headache," Aoshi grumbled while walking out of the room.

Kenshin stared at Aoshi's retreating figure for a moment before hurrying after him, never noticing the smirk that was apparent on Misao's face as she gave herself a mental high five.

* * *

Kaoru checked the time on the clock that she had placed in her bathroom on her way out. _'It's six forty-five; dinner should have been ready by now.'_ With this thought in mind Kaoru grabbed the book that she was currently reading off her bed and went downstairs so that she could read by the fire until it was time for dinner.

Kaoru jumped over the last couple of stairs and quickly made her way to the living room. There she grabbed a pillow and a blanket before setting up a makeshift bed by the fire. After a while, Kaoru realized that not only had she read the same line ten times but that she couldn't even get past the first word due to all of the ruckus coming from the kitchen. Angrily, Kaoru marked her page and put her book down besides the pillow before marching over to the kitchen to see what was going on.

Shock, confusion, anger, and laughter all flickered across Kaoru's face as she stared at the mess in front of her. "What the hell happened here?"

Pasta was hanging from the walls and the chandelier, not to mention the two occupants' hair. Tomato sauce was splattered all across the walls and in puddles on the floor. Both of the teenagers were covered in flour but Kaoru was pretty sure that she could see hints of tomato sauce underneath. Flour was spread out across the floor in a way that would have seemed very artistic to Kaoru if she had been in the mood to notice it. Right now the two teenagers were trying to throw sticks of butter with chocolate chips in them at each other.

"I'm trying to teach Sano how to cook," Megumi said before throwing one of her sticks of butter at the unsuspecting Sano. Kaoru quickly closed the door and hid behind it as she listened to the food fight that was going on in the other room.

"STOP THROWING THE BUTTER AT ME!"

"THEN STOP SQUISHING IT INTO MY HAIR!"

Cautiously, Kaoru stood up to peak through the tiny window that was placed in the top of the door to see what was going on, only to recoil when she saw a stick of butter coming her way.

"What's going on?"

Kaoru turned around to see a semi-wet Kenshin standing behind her.

'_Hott!'_ Kaoru mentally shook her head and quickly tried to make a reasonable response to Kenshin's question. "Well Megumi claims that she's trying to teach Sano how to cook, but I really think they're just trying to piss each other off."

Kenshin looked through the window before looking back down at Kaoru. "That's a cooking class?"

"It was a decent class before, but then Megumi poured some tomato sauce on Sano's head and it when on from there."

The two teenagers turned around to see Misao slide off the banister and land on her feet.

"Sanosuke also broke Megumi's bike this morning so that might have something to do with it," Aoshi said as he made his way down the stairs.

"Are you okay?" When Aoshi gave Kaoru a weird look she explained, "You've been talking a lot more recently."

"You haven't noticed until now?" both Kenshin and Misao asked in amazement.

"I don't notice these kinds of things immediately unlike you two."

"DINNER'S READY!"

"For some reason I highly doubt that," Misao muttered as the four of them walked into the dinning room.

"We already ate so we're going to go take showers," Megumi said from the doorway as they entered the kitchen. "Then we'll come back and clean this mess up."

The four teenagers just nodded before sitting down to eat their Stouffers meals.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE!"

The four teenagers fast walked out of the dinning room holding their dinners in one hand and holding to door open with the other to peer out into the entrance way. The first thing they noticed was that Megumi, whose voice they had heard, was hiding behind Sanosuke. By the way her cheeks were tinged pink you could tell that she was embarrassed. When they heard the door close, the four teenagers turned their heads to the left. It was then that they noticed that Hiko and Saito were standing in the hallway.

"I thought you guys weren't coming 'till Monday," Misao said while shoving a piece of ravioli into her mouth.

"We decided to give you a surprise visit," Hiko said while looking at the two teenagers that were covered in cooking materials. "It seems that we came at a bad time."

A silence followed that comment as the teenagers standing in the dining room (well all of them except for Aoshi really) were trying to stifle their laughs.

"Well if you'll excuse us for a little bit," Sano said while pushing Megumi towards the stairs. "We'll go take our showers and be back down in a moment."

As the two teenagers ran up the stairs, Megumi, Kenshin, and Kaoru couldn't help it anymore and started cracking up hysterically. Meanwhile Hiko, Saito, and Aoshi were staring at each other, each of them silently wondering what the world had come to.

* * *

_"Hah! I won!" _

_Aoshi stared down in amazement at Misao's sudoku checking for any possible mistakes but finding none. _'Please let it be something reasonable. Please let it be something reasonable,' _Aoshi prayed in his head. Now mind you Aoshi doesn't pray that often. It's most likely that he doesn't even pray once a year. _

_"Got it!" Misao shouted and Aoshi mentally prepared himself for what punishment Misao was going to give him for loosing in a sudoku race. "When ever someone asks you to do something you'll have to say yes. Oh yeah! This lasts for a week." _

'I am never praying to Kami-sama ever again,'_ Aoshi thought as he glared at the girl sitting on his bed. _

**

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**

**A/N:** Tomorrow's my birthday so I finally decided to get my lazy ass off the internet and start writing again. But I also wanted to thank all of you who have reviewed for reviewing. It means a lot to me cause it gives me a feel for who's reading my stories and how I should continue it. Anyways… I'll try to update again tomorrow. Later!


	10. Good Things Never Last Long

**A/N:** As I was going to update yesterday so that as a birthday present to me I wouldn't have to update again for at least two days but since the stupid thing won't upload my documents I guess I'll update tomorrow. Anyways… R&R!

Thank you iceprincess421 and flip-flop108! And to answer iceprincess421's question I am now 14 years and two days old now. .

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.

* * *

**Mansion of Secrets**

**Good Things Never Last Long

* * *

**

Misao placed her plate back in the cabinet from which it came because since her dinner had been Stouffers it had remained in its plastic container and there was no point in placing a clean plate in the dishwasher. She carefully maneuvered her way between Sanosuke and Megumi who were almost done cleaning the kitchen and made her way back to the living room where everyone else was waiting. Kaoru was reading her book on her makeshift bed near the fire. Kenshin was sprawled out on the couch and staring at the ceiling. Aoshi was sitting on the ground with his head leaning against the footrest belonging to the chair to the right of the couch. Both Saito and Hiko were sitting on the window seat farthest away from the door. Misao looked over her options: the two seats by the fire and the other window seat across from the fire. Misao chose the later and made her way across the room. She sat down and pulled the blanket around her legs, after all she was only wearing a mini skirt. She then pulled the sleeves of her shirt down and over her hands before crossing her arms over her chest.

Misao looked out the window and noticed that the sun had almost set. She realized, with a little bit of surprise, that she hadn't even noticed the time pass by. A month had already gone by in what seemed, to her, to be two weeks. She had grown closer with everyone who lived in the mansion. She, Megumi, and Kaoru almost always stayed up late watching movies and eating junk food. She had cooking and cleaning duty with Kenshin on Monday and Thursday. She thought that he was a kind and caring person, always knowing what to say. He was a little shy but his heart was gentle and he was a great person to tell your problems to. He almost fit into the mother role, especially since he's probably the best cook in the house. She'd often played video games with Sanosuke and was almost always beaten. He was fun and energetic. It was often hard to find him because he would be wandering around the mansion grounds. His jokes were funny (even thought most of them were about Megumi, the 'vixen'), and he always seemed able to lift people's spirits.

However, Misao felt that the person she had made the most progress with was Aoshi. At first he had been a stranger (a really hott stranger) seemingly emotionless and uncaring. Deciding she was going to change that Misao had started to more active in his life at the mansion than anyone else. It had started with the math lessons (she had a lot of pleading to do before he finally agreed). Misao really did need help but she would often get bored and most of the time ended up doing it all at the last minute. (So in truth Aoshi was only there to make sure that she finished her homework, but he doesn't need to know that.) Once she felt that he was comfortable in her company, she began to drag him downstairs to watch movies and play games with everyone else. However, she considered her greatest achievement to be her first raid of Aoshi's room last night.

Misao smiled fondly at the memory. She had snuck into Aoshi's room when he was usually outside practicing his swordsmanship. She hadn't really planned on as to what she was going to take from his room so she had started rummaging around his doors. At one point she had found his i-pod and had started listening to some of her favorite song as she continued to raid Aoshi's drawers. Maybe that was why she hadn't heard the bathroom door open, why she hadn't heard him come up behind her. But she knew that because of this he had wrapped one arm around her waist, the other he used to put her into a headlock. She knew it was the reason why he had leaned over and pulled out the left earphone. It was the reason why her heart had started to beat ten times faster when she felt his breath against her ear. It was the reason why he had whispered, "What do you think you are doing?" before proceeding to tickle her as a form of punishment.

Unfortunately good things never lasted long in her life. For example, things had just started to go well in school. Misao had changed from the shy girl she used to be to the one full of energy and life. She had made many more friends than the only two that she had in her old school (she now had seven) and her grades were considerably harder. However, about a week after spring break in her first year, her father had picked her up early one day and in the car ride home had told her that her mother's plane had crashed somewhere in China. She had forgotten the details by now and it made her feel somewhat guilty. However, she did know that exactly one month and three days later, the doorbell had rung and she had opened it assuming that her father had forgotten his keys, only to find out that her father had been driving drunk and had driven over the side of the road. They had placed him in intensive care but it didn't matter since he died two weeks later anyways.

Misao heard the door to the living room had closed and opened her eyes, only realizing just then that she had closed them. She watched as Megumi and Sanosuke took seats on opposite sides of the fire in the only two chairs available. Hiko and Saito got up from their spots on the window seat and stood in front of the fire. They gave out the next batch of homework before getting onto the matter at hand.

"Every year there is a town party held at the local school at Halloween."

"We asked if you could attend this year and they said yes," Saito said, finishing off what Hiko had been saying.

Shouts of happiness arouse from the people before her and Misao found herself smiling a bit. _'It would be good to get out of this house for a little bit.'_

"We also decided that we'd let you go out this weekend so that you can pick up your costumes before all the good ones are gone," Hiko said which earned another round of cheers from the teenagers before him.

Once the time of pick up had been arranged the two men left, leaving the excited teenager to talk amongst themselves. Misao smiled with happiness thinking about all the things that she could do to Aoshi at the party. She lied down on one of the pillows and a wave of tiredness suddenly hit her.

Her smile turned into a frown as the porch lights turned on outside. She watched the gold and red leaves get blown of their branches, and instead of landing at the bottom of the tree they were carried a couple of yards away before finally dropping. The leaves danced around each other creating a pleasant effect on Misao's mind. Deciding that spending one night out on the window seat wouldn't be so bad, Misao prepared to fall asleep only to have her cell phone start ringing.

"Hello?"

"_Hey baby. Did I wake you up or something?"_

"No," Misao said, immediately recognizing the voice on the other side. "I just feel a little tired that's all."

"_Oh. Well the reason I called is that I have some cousins that live down by where you're staying and they told me that you guys had been invited to the Halloween party."_

"So?" Misao asked after a short silence on the other end.

"_Well, I figured that since it would have been our one year anniversary the day before that you might want to spend some time with your boyfriend on your favorite holiday."_

"Huh?" Misao asked, the full meaning of the words hadn't yet registered in her head.

"_I was saying that I thought we should spend Halloween night together,"_ he said, raising his voice a little bit in frustration.

"You're going to drive all the way down here?"

"_What? You don't want me to come?"_

"No, no, no," Misao protested as she sat up again. "I just think it's unfair to you that you have to drive all the way up here." Meanwhile she was thinking,_ 'Shit, shit, shit! How the hell am I supposed to spend anytime with Aoshi now! I'm not even sure if I still like-'_

"_Hello?"_

"Huh? Oh sorry. What did you say?"

"_Nothing important."_

"Oh."

"_Are you busy or something?"_

"Not really. I just stayed up late last night so I feel kind of tired."

"_What have I told you about movies on school nights?"_

"Well it's not really school."

"_What did I tell you?"_

Misao sighed before answering. "Not to watch them."

"_Yep! Now you know why."_

"Anyways, I should probably go soon," Misao said, desperate to end the conversation.

"_Okay. So I'll see you on Halloween?"_

"Yeah. Sure."

"_See you then."_

"See ya."

"_Bye."_

"Sayonara."

'_Yep,'_ Misao thought as she looked out at the expectant faces in front of her as she closed her cell phone. _'Good things never last long.'

* * *

_

**A/N:** Ooooo, the mysterious boyfriend. . Anyways sorry about the long paragraphs, they really couldn't be broken down into smaller ones. Now all you guys who asked me to focus a little bit more on Misao and Aoshi know how effective your reviews can be although I was planning to do something with them soon. silence Anyways I'm going to go to Maryland until Friday and then I leave the next day for Seattle so I don't know if I'll have time to write anything on Friday so if I don't I'll update as soon as I get back from Seattle. Have a nice July!


	11. Halloween

**A/N:** I've found a computer/jumps up and down with excitement/ Now I don't have to wait until I get back from Maryland so you guys are in luck! I have a question… does anyone here like canoli? I think they are the strangest tasting things in the world so my aunt's gonna disown me. How unfair is that? And I can't believe that Damon played first base on Tuesday night! (It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.) Anyways, R&R!  
**ELLIE 37713:** Thank you! This is kinda random but do you read Rave Master? (You don't have to answer if you don't want to.)  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.

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Mansion of Secrets  
Halloween

* * *

As soon as the doorbell rang Misao was flying down the stairs and racing to the front door, hoping to avoid any unnecessary confrontations between Aoshi and Akira.

Misao had started dating Suzuki Akira about a month after Kaoru's parents had died. At first Misao had felt guilty that she had found happiness when Kaoru's life had just turned dark, but Kaoru reassured her that everything was fine and encouraged Misao to go out with Akira for her first date.

Sliding down the last bannister, Misao ran at a full sprint towards the door when she saw Aoshi coming from the garden. She quickly turned the door handle and opened the door just wide enough to let her through before quickly closing the door behind her.

"It's good to see you too."

Misao looked up and saw Akira looking down at her. His green eyes sparkled with amusement and she could see the corners of his mouth begin to twitch into a smile.

"Are you ready to go?" Akira asked. When Misao nodded he led her over to his black Porsche and opened the passenger side door for her before closing it and walking around to the other side of the car and sliding into the driver's seat.

"You're costume suits you," Akira said as he shifted the car into reverse, backing up so that he could turn the car around and begin the long decent back down the hill and into the town.

Misao smiled as she looked down at her costume. When they had gone costume shopping, about three weeks ago, Misao had spotted the ninja outfit and had bough it immediately despite her friends' protests, claiming that she could buy something more elegant and look ten times more stunning. "Yeah. I've always been interested in ninjas." Misao glanced over at Akira before saying, "I like your outfit a lot too. It's very... you," Misao finally finished due to a lack of better words, pulling her from behind her back and over her shoulder in embarassment.

Akira laughed; it sounded hallow, like something vitally important was missing, making it sound completely different form everyone else's. Misao realized with shock that she had never noticed this before. 'Maybe it's because I had never thought about breaking up with him before.'

Misao had been toying with the idea for the past month. Once Aoshi had learned that Misao had a boyfriend he had become more like his old self again, at least if the matter had anything to do with Misao. Misao quickly came to learn that she liked the new Aoshi and that he had become an important part in her stay at the mansion and even in her life, possibly even more so than Akira.

When they had first started to date Akira had tried to stay away from her friends whenever possible. He had almost never smiled, causing his face to look somewhat strained as if this wasn't his normal expression. He had been constantly fussing with his hair, nimble fingers massaging his hairline. He had also kept rubbing his eyes, saying that for brief periods of time during the year his eyes would become unusually dry. When Misao had told Megumi this the older girl had said that she knew nothing about this problem and therefore couldn't help Akira.

There had also been periods of time when he would just disappear. Nobody would answer the phone when she called his house, and when she went by his house all the lights would be off and nobody would answer the doorbell. When Akira had came back from the first of these disappearances he had said that his father was an important businessman and almost always brought his family along with him on his business trips, often telling them they were going to leave for the airport in an hour, forcing them to shove random articles of clothing into a suitcase before being hurried into a car and off to the airport.

Now Misao wondered why Akira never rubbed his eyes for the past years they had been together after the first month. From the way he had described his problem to her it had seemed that the problem occurred more than once a year. She also wondered why he had never bothered to call her before one of these excursions. Surely if his father was as rich as he sounded to be someone in his family would have a cell phone in the car with them that he could use even if he forgot his. Most of all she wondered why she had never noticed how strange all of this was before.

Misao sighed which caused Akira to glance at her through the rearview mirror. "What's wrong he asked when he noticed the expression on her face.

"Nothing." Misao let out another sigh. "I was just thinking about how the year was going by so quickly," Misao lied, hoping that he wouldn't notice. Akira just nodded and they rode the rest of the way in silence.

* * *

The five teenagers had just finished the haunted mansion, which had been set up in the school's auditorium, when they caught sight of Misao and who appeared to be her boyfriend. He had bright red hair that was picked in a way that was very similar to Sanosuke's hairstyle. His bright green eyes sparkled in amusement or happiness (it was hard to tell which) although no other trace of the emotions could be found on his face. He was slightly taller than Misao with a lean, but fit, figure. He wore the outfit of a shinigami, a death god. Somehow the outfit seemed to suit him, although it was impossible to tell why.

Obviously Misao had noticed them too for she was waving excitedly at them before she started to make her way through the crowd towards them, Akira in tow.

"Hey guys!" Misao said happily, her eyes full of life and happiness. "Kenshin, Sano, and Aoshi, this is my boyfriend Akira."  
The boys made the appropriate noises before Misao continued talking, the excitement of being at the party making her talk twice as much as normal.

"What have you guys done so far?" Misao asked, practically jumping up and down with excitement. "First we went on the jumping castle, then we went to some of the booths, all of which were in the gym, then we went outside to do the corn maze, and then we went to the cafeteria and got some food before going back up to the gym and playing some of our favorite games again. WE were just about to go to the haunted mansion when we saw you guys."

"Sounds like you did a lot," Kaoru said before the three girls continued to talk about the party.

Once everyone had said goodbye, Misao and Akira walked away to do the haunted mansion. Deciding that they were hungry, Kaoru and Megumi dragged the three boys to the cafeteria. Once there the two girls went off to get drinks for everyone and a pizza since the boys had gotten the food the last time that they had come to the cafeteria.

Once the girls were out of hearing range Sanosuke asked the question that was on all of their minds. "Did you see they way he looked at us? It was as if he was sizing us all up."

The other two boys nodded and Kenshin added, "He also got a predator's look in his eyes when he saw Kaoru." When the two other boys gave him a look saying what-the-hell-is-so-important-about-that? Kenshin wished he could explain to them that someone was after Kaoru's life. However, he knew that Hiko-san and Saito-san would give him permission to do so when the situation became more dangerous and the police had to take action.

"What should we do about him?" Sanosuke asked when he saw that the girls were returning.

"I don't know," Aoshi said, keeping an eye on the girls, making sure that they hadn't heard them, "but I do know that I don't trust him."

* * *

Having excused himself from the party and Misao, claiming that he had a long drive ahead of him and needed to get going, Akira walked outside and towards his car. Once there he opened the door and slid into the driver's seat. Locking the door and making sure no one was in sight before taking out his cell phone.

He dialed the number, fingers moving swiftly across the keypad, before lifting the phone to his ear. The phone was answered after the first ring. Akira listened to the steady breathing on the other side of the line before a raspy voice demanded, "Well?"

"She's here," Akira replied, knowing those two words were more than enough to get his meaning across.

"Excellent," the voice said before Akira heard a click and the line went dead.

Akira hung up his cell phone and placed it in the cup holder next to his seat before reaching into his pocket and taking out his contact lenses case. Once the green contacts were out and put safely back in there box, he reached up and started feeling around the edges of his hair. Once all the bobby pins were out he pulled off the red wig and threw it into the back seat. He started to massage his scalp while letting his jaw muscles relax. It wasn't long before the familiar smile came back to his face. He hated not being able to smile. It didn't feel right.

He stuck the key in the ignition and quickly backed out of the school parking lot. He made his way to the outskirts of the town. Once he was sure he hadn't been followed he made his way over to the plaza and waited.

It wasn't long before he heard footsteps approaching. He unlocked the car door and waited until the door had slammed shut before starting the car again.

Dark blue eyes gazed at the new comer through the rear view mirror. His blond hair was too tall and therefore bent at the ceiling. His light blue eyes danced in delight as they drove out of the town and onto the highway.

"I'm assuming things went well Soujirou?"

Soujirou smile became even broader and his dark blues eyes sparkled as he ran a hand through his black hair. "Yes.

Although I really do hate it when I have to go out on a date with her. I don't like having to wear wigs and not being able to smile all the time. I really do hope that I won't be needed to spy on them anymore; I feel that she wants to break up with me soon anyways."'

The other man laughed and Seta was glad that he had been chosen for the other part of the assignment. It was easy to have a conversation with him. "I'm assuming your assignment went well Chou?"

Chou grinned and leaned back in his seat. "Let's just say that the princess is going to have a very busy night."

* * *

**F/N: **Just so you know that was not a typo (it stands for 'Friend Note' /laughter/), this is Yueh-san speaking, and I just want to say you're all wonderful people to be reading my friends story:D /hands out Kenshin plushies/ . Please review!


	12. The Midnight Dance

**A/N:** Sorry it took so long. I was in Japan and Thailand for two weeks and then varsity preseason started right after I got back so I felt really tired for a couple of days after that… then the story slipped my mind and when I remembered I was on my way to Maryland. After that I really have no reason as to why I haven't updated earlier… I AM SO SORRY!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.

* * *

**Mansion of Secrets**

**The Midnight Dance

* * *

**

"What the hell are these?"

The six teenagers had just returned from the Halloween party. The object of their attention was the collection of red envelopes scattered all over the floor.

"And we're supposed to know how? Are we the all knowing gods and you are the stupid peasant?" Megumi asked sarcastically as she picked on of the letters up.

"Who's it for?" Misao asked as she bent to pick up another one of the letters.

"It's for Kaoru," Megumi answered as she handed her envelope over to Kaoru.

"It's a love letter… well poem actually." Kaoru sighed at the confused looks from her friends. She was about to say something when Megumi interrupted her.

"Kaoru has a secret admirer?"

"Our Kaoru's so grown up!" Misao shouted as she and Megumi enveloped Kaoru in a hug.

"You've gotta be joking," Sano said as he watched Kaoru struggle to get out of the other two girls' hold.

"She's not laughing."

"Shut up Aoshi!" Sanosuke growled at the other teenage boy.

"Can you read it out loud to us Kaoru-san?" Kenshin asked with a bright smile.

"Sure, I guess," Kaoru said as she finally managed to get out of the two girls grip.

'_My love was locked behind a hidden door_

_Down long passages unlit_

_On one of the darkest of celebrated nights_

_You stood out like a beacon_

_A call of hope for a soul long lost_

_A call this soul was unable to resist_

_I followed the long winding road_

_Finally reaching your home_

_A place called the Mansion of Secrets_

_Built for you alone_

_A place where you can hide_

_In the corners of your mind_

_As I opened the wooden door_

_I was basked in marvelous light_

_The door to my love had been found_

_The hope in my soul released_

_I raised my hand to the Lord_

_For I had found you_

_So let me find your door_

_Let me find your hope_

_Let me see your past_

_Let me free you from the dark_

_Let me help you find eternal peace_

_For you are the love of my life'_

* * *

'_Find your peace during the midnight dance_

_Follow the steps under the full moon_

_Swaying with the trees in their sorrow_

_For then you shall find the place inside of you_

_Where all things shall become true_

_That is the entrance to the Mansion of Secrets'_

The leaves danced through the night, each one a different shade of gray. The wind played the music, a mournful tone that broke the hearts of those still awake to hear it. This was the midnight dance.

When Kaoru had stopped reading the letter everyone had started talking about how strange the poem was for someone who was in love. However, Kenshin had watched as her eyes continued to skim down the page. It was for this reason that he was holding one of the red letters in his hand. It was for this reason that he was watching the midnight dance.

What kind of advice was this? Was this man trying to say that she would find her love in this 'Mansion of Secrets' or was he saying that she would find the answers to her past? If Kaoru was supposed to be able to hide in the corners of her mind in this mansion than why would she be able to find love there? If this was truly a love poem then the answer would be the former. However, Kenshin did not like the sound of 'eternal peace' for all of its meanings, and therefore kept the latter possibility open for question as well.

Kenshin sighed and rolled over to his other side. He really wanted to go to sleep but this letter was bothering him. Besides, Hiko had asked him to watch over Kaoru and to report any possible threats to Kaoru's wellbeing to them. Was this letter a threat? If so then who wrote it?

Kenshin stood up and walked over to the window. He touched the glass with his finger tips, only to pull them away quickly as a chill ran through his body. True, it was cold outside (after all it was October), but there was something else wrong… he could just feel it.

* * *

Kaoru had sat on her bed and listened to the wind, feeling the effect it had on her body. Eventually she gave into the temptation and went over to her CD collection. She pulled out a random CD and stuck into the CD player before standing in the middle of the floor. When the first couple of notes began to play her feet were already finding there way across the floor in her version of the midnight dance.

Kaoru continued to dance as the CD switched tracks. She felt shivers going down her spine as the eerie music seemed to fit perfectly with the sound of the wind howling outside. She did not know who the artist for the CD was. All she knew was that it was some American band that Misao absolutely hated. (Hence the reason for buying the CD.)

During the middle of the track, Kaoru felt her foot fall out from under her. She braced herself quickly as she fell to the ground, her hand resting on the object that had caused her to slip.

It was the envelope for the letter that she had gotten earlier that night. She was about to throw it away in the trash so that she would not slip on it again when she noticed something.

It was hard to notice at first sight because the two colors were almost exactly identical, but there was writing on the inside of the envelope. Kaoru carefully tore the rest of the envelope apart so as to read the whole entire message.

'_The rest of my message you need to find_

_And if you are unable to do so you must be blind_

_For on the envelope is a spot completely white_

_Not to mention it lies in plain sight_

_So go down to where you found sea of red_

_And watch the video before you go to bed_

_So until we shall be able to see each other_

_I shall hope that I'm not such a bother'_

* * *

"_Hello?"_

Kenshin sighed with relief as he heard the sound of the voice of his foster father/teacher/mentor on the other end of the line. After thirty minutes of pacing around his room Kenshin had finally decided to ask for help. There was no way that he would be able to find out what was bothering him if he didn't talk to someone.

"_If you don't answer soon I'm going to hang-up. Do you know what time it is?"_

"Wait! Don't hang-up! I need your help Hiko-sensei!"

"_It's twelve thirty in the bloody morning Kenshin,"_ Hiko growled on the other side of the line. _"This better be good otherwise I'm going to beat the shit out of you when I see you next."_

Kenshin ignored Hiko's threat and explained what was bothering him. "First there's something completely wrong with Misao-san's boyfriend. Sanosuke, Aoshi, and I all agree on this. Not to mention he was constantly watching Kaoru-san."

"_She's a pretty girl. It's only to be expected."_

"Misao is his girlfriend."

"_Ever heard of cheating?"_

Kenshin sighed in exasperation. Sometimes Hiko could be really annoying. "Anyways, that's not the main problem. When we got home from the party today there were a bunch of red envelopes lying all over the ground, all of which were addressed to Kaoru-san. Each one contained a love poem that was relatively disturbing."

"_What was so disturbing,"_ Hiko asked, now sounding somewhat interested.

"Well there was _'A place called the Mansion of Secrets, Built for you alone, A place where you can hide, In the corners of your mind'_ and then there was _'Let me help you find eternal peace'_ which in my mind usually means death."

"_True, true,"_ Hiko replied, his tone thoughtful. _"Well let's think about this…"_

* * *

Kaoru was currently sitting in the living room surrounded by two mounds of red envelopes. The mound on her left was of letters she had already checked, the mound on her right was of letters she had yet to check. She gave out a groan of frustration, for although she felt this sense of urgency to find out what was it the mysterious letter with the whit spot, it was a very tedious task that she did not feel like performing at the moment.

"Found it!" Kaoru practically shouted with joy as she quickly tore open the envelope in her hand. She turned it upside down so that the flap was above her palm and shook it until a DVD fell out into her palm. She quickly ran over to the DVD player and stuck the DVD in while she turned on the TV. Once everything was finished Kaoru grabbed the DVD remote and ran back to the couch so that she could watch the video.

She waited for a minute watching the blank screen in front of her before she sighed in frustration. She was about to turn the TV off when a voice started to speak to her.

"_Hello my dear," _came the voice from the blank screen. _"Although you do not know who I am I have known you for quite a while. I wouldn't consider myself a stalker but I held your father as a man of high importance, and when I saw a picture of you from him I fell instantly in love. Anyways, here are a couple of mementoes I have of you and your parents that I found in the office files of your father. I hope you enjoy them."_

Kaoru sat in front of the TV with tears pouring down her cheeks as a bunch of pictures made there way across the TV screen. There were pictures of her on her first birthday, not to mention all of her other birthdays, as well as pictures of her playing with her parents in the park. One of her favorite pictures was of her and her mom standing in the kitchen making cookies. Her mother was laughing at her as she stood in shock with baking flour all over her body.

There were also a couple of video clips in amongst the pictures. One of her favorite videos was her father teaching her how to hit a baseball. Her father stood on the mound and tossed a ball towards her. She laughed as the camera focused in on her to show her face screwed up in concentration as she swung and completely missed the ball.

She sat on the couch, watching moments like this for what seemed like forever, before the words appeared on the screen.

'_This is the midnight dance.'_

She watched in horror as the images passed over the screen. Screams tore at her throat as she watched that night happen all over again before her eyes. She watched as her parents fell down before her, and she watched as she picked up her father's sword, ready to defend herself for all she was worth.

As the images continued to play through her mind the screen went blank and the voice came back on.

"_We've found the maps darling, no all we need are the codes."_

Her scream pierced through the air, joining the howl of the cold wind blowing outside.


	13. Wishes

**A/N:** It's been… a while and I apologize for the long wait Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

* * *

**Mansion of Secrets**

**Wishes

* * *

**

_Bang. Bang. Bang._

Kaoru lifted the gun and trained it on the target. _Bang._

This time she was by herself. She had snuck into Kenshin's room and taken the key to the underground room from his night-table. At one point she had been afraid that he would wake up, but he only rolled over before settling down again.

So there she stood in that cold, dark, dreary room with a piece of shiny cold metal in her hands. The one bare pale yellow light bulb cast shadows all over the room. The waterfall roared above her but she couldn't hear it through the thick walls and the barrier she had set up around her mind.

She caught sight of something moving out of the corner of her eye and immediately turned towards it. She was barely able to make out the figure of the rat as it disappeared into its hole in the wall.

Kaoru turned so that she was facing the target and took in a deep breath. As soon as she opened her eyes she raised her arm and fired.

Bull's-eye.

However, she didn't relax with pride, in fact, she couldn't relax. She had too much to think about, too much to learn, too much that she needed to think about but did not want think about.

She wanted to return to the old days, the days when everything was perfect in its own way. She wanted to wake up in the morning to her mom knocking on the door and yelling at her to get up. She wanted to be able to run down the stairs and see her father smile at her as he glanced up from his newspaper; she wanted to see her mom's beautiful smile as she as she handed her a piece of toast, and tell her in the sweet voice that she knew so well, that she would be late if she didn't leave soon. She wanted to run into the school building and be greeted by Misao and Megumi who would be standing by her locker with all the books she needed for the next period as the first bell rang.

But of course that was all over now.

Her hand unconsciously moved to her back and traced as much of the scar located there as physically possible. The events that had led up to this scar had changed her life forever, and it hadn't been for the best either.

Kaoru aimed and pulled the trigger angrily. She gasped and grabbed her shoulder; she had not been prepared for the recoil. Tears of anger and sadness made tracks down her face and a ragged sob escaped between her slightly parted chapped lips. She slowly crawled over to the corner and curled up into the fetal position. She knew that there was nothing she could do now to bring them back, but did that mean she couldn't feel the pain?

Everyone says that you will get over it eventually, that time heals all wounds. But that was so terribly hard for her to believe with her heart still torn open and bleeding. Would she ever be able to get over it? Would she ever be able to move on?

Her psychiatrist had said that it was up to Kaoru to decide that, no one else could do it for her. But it is so much easier to decide for someone else than it is to decide for oneself.

But up until three weeks ago, Kaoru had felt that it would be possible for her to move on; and Kaoru had to admit that it was because of the five other teenagers in the house.

Kenshin was cute and kind, not to mention he also got into the funniest situations sometimes. Megumi and Sanosuke always argue twenty-four seven while Misao tried to get Aoshi to talk more. All in all life was entertaining around them.

And then Halloween came and everything went downhill. She had begun to lock herself up in her room when she wasn't eating or training. She no longer talked to Misao and Megumi, her two closest friends. She occasionally said a word or two to Kenshin and Aoshi, but that was only to confirm the fact that she understood what they were teaching her. Sanosuke would bring her the mail and tell her what was happening in the world outside her room as he picked up her homework. However, she made sure that she never opened the door when he was outside. She knew that he would be the first person to ignore the fact that she wanted to be alone and only focus on the fact that she was only hurting herself by surrounding herself with a wall.

"A best friend," her mother had once told her, "is someone who knows when to leave you alone, but on the other hand also knows when you need to be brought out of the emptiness that you have surrounded yourself in when depressed.

So they must be her best friends… all of them.

'_I wish I had met them sooner, life could have been so much easier…_'

She had Misao and Megumi in high school. In middle school she had been teased by the girls for being smart and being interested in swords; the boys had thought she was weird because she could have been popular but had decided not to be. Unfortunately for her, a huge group of them had decided to go to the same high school she did. One day, they had decided that they would chase her around the campus with buckets of pain. While running around a corner of the campus, Kaoru happened to bump quite literally into Misao. While Kaoru tried to catch her breath as she laid on the ground, Misao had taken on look at the situation and decided that she to take care of the group. Meanwhile, Megumi had set aside the book she had been reading in order to make sure that Kaoru was okay.

After Kaoru had reassured Megumi a thousand times that she was okay Megumi left her alone and went back to her book. Shortly afterwards, Misao returned with splashes of blue and green paint all over her clothes. She just laughed at Kaoru's horrified expression and said it was perfectly okay, that she liked the new look.

Kaoru cracked a smile at the memory, remembering how Misao had dragged her around all day while Megumi tried to tell her that she might be bothering Kaoru. It only caused the two of them to get into a fight while Kaoru stood off towards the side laughing.

Kaoru sighed and looked up at the ceiling, letting the sound of the waterfall calm her down. She then cleaned the gun and placed it back in its case. Once she closed the door to the room behind her, she ran as quietly as she could upstairs and crept into Kenshin's room and placed the keys back where she had found them.

She turned to go out of the room but found herself stopping for some reason. She slowly turned back around and crept closer to Kenshin. She stopped right next to his bed and knelt besides it.

The moon struck his face so that his pale skin took on an celestial glow. His hair seemed to glow a deep crimson, much darker than one would expect with that kind of light. The over all effect was spectacular, and soon Kaoru found herself sweeping away the locks of hair that covered his face. It was amazing to her that someone so well trained in the arts of killing could look so innocent. Before she could stop herself, Kaoru found her fingertips softly tracing the scar on his lift cheek… it looked exactly like the scar on her back. She remembered the conversation that they had one night a while ago. Had the people that were close to him murdered by the same people that murdered her parents?

She drew her hand back quickly and stood up hurriedly when he began to stir. It did not take long for him to settle down, and when he did she quickly made her way out of the room, all the while making sure that she did not make too much noise.

Kaoru walked back to her room and was about to go in when she decided that when wanted to go outside. When ran downstairs and opened the hallway closet. She grabbed her sweatshirt and shoes, putting them on quickly before opening the door and stepping into the cold late November wind.

Kaoru ran to the lone tree in the center of the circular driveway and leaned against it, facing away from the house. She took in a deep breath and released it, reveling in the chill that went through her body. She sat like that for a while jest enjoying the cool breeze on her face.

At some point, Kaoru decided to put on her gloves, and while looking for them she found her iPod. After putting one her gloves she stood up and selected a random song. She was surprised when she realized that it was the one that she had done a solo to in last year's dance recital. But the surprise didn't last long and she soon found herself performing the dance that she knew so well.

She never noticed the leaves that fell in shades of crimson and gold whenever a strong wind blew; nor did she notice the snow when it began to fall, giving her dance as mystical element which is impossible to achieve on the stage. And she also did not notice the fact that there was another person out there with her until she was performing the last move of her dance and twirled right into a blanket.

As she jumped in shock, two strong arms wrapped themselves around her, pulling her into the warmth of another person's embrace. She glanced up and was surprised to find a pair of amethyst eyes looking down at her. There was something in those eyes, something that she had never seen before, a new kind of light that made his whole face shine.

"What were you thinking? You could have frozen to death out here," Kenshin chided her, smiling at the emotions he saw flickering across her face.

"Um… well… uh…" Kaoru stuttered, still in shock. "It wasn't as cold when I came outside."

"That's most likely true," Kenshin agreed, "but you should have danced inside. Now the sweat on your body will freeze and might cause you to catch a cold."

"I'm sorry if I felt like dancing," Kaoru grumbled, turning her head to the side so that Kenshin couldn't look into her eyes.

"At least you're back to your old self."

It took a short amount of time for what he said to register in her brain, but when it did she immediately turned to look at him, and when she did she gasped.

What she saw was the most beautiful smile she had ever seen in her whole life. It shone like no other and lit up the night sky surrounding him and made all of his facial features to fall in line. The result was the most beautiful thing she would see for the rest of her life.

"Welcome back."

She tried to hold them back but the tears cam pouring out of her eyes. A chocked sob came out of her mouth and she pressed her face into his chest.

"I'm so sorry!" she shouted, worried that he wouldn't be able to hear her though his thick coat. "I'm so sorry!"

He pulled her closer to him and whispered into her ear, "It's all right now. You're back. Shhh."

"I was so scared… so scared…"

"Shhh. It's okay. I'm here… Sano, Aoshi, Misao, and Megumi are here too," he consoled her as he pressed his lips to her forehead.

They stayed like that for a while, each basking in the warmth of the other's presence as the snow fell around them.

"Aren't they so _cute_!" Misao shouted as she jumped up and down next to the window.

"Who cares?" mumbled Aoshi which caused Misao to glare at him.

"You should be glad Kenshin has someone he loves. He's your friend after all."

"Who said I wasn't happy for him?"

"Your attitude, but they are _so_ cute!"

Aoshi sighed, "If I admit that I agree will you stop squealing?"

Misao just smiled.

"At least there are two men in this house that can do something right," Megumi said as she continued to make hot chocolate for everyone.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!?!"

Megumi glanced from the broken glass on the floor to Sanosuke who was glaring intensely at her.

"Exactly what it sounded like. Now will you please pick up the broken cup and hand me a new one?"

"God I hate that woman!' Sano grumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Megumi asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Exactly what it sounded like," Sano replied in a high pitched girly voice.

Megumi just glared at him and said nothing.

"You guys! Calm down, they're coming back!"

The four of them gathered at the window and watched as Kaoru laughed at something Kenshin had said while wiping that last remnants of tears from her eyes.

"The perfect match!" Misao said excitedly as she danced around the room.

"Indeed," Megumi agreed as the couple disappeared into the entrance way.

"Hey, guys!" Kaoru said happily as she waked through the doorway. "Long time no see!"

She smiled as everyone came and hugged her (except for Aoshi who just nodded). She then sat down at the counter wrapped in her blanket and a steaming cup of hot chocolate in her hands. She continued to smile as the four teenagers in front of her continued to talk to her as if nothing had happened theses past three weeks and it wasn't one o'clock in the morning. The thought made her sleepy and she yawned. She looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Do you want to go to bed?" Kenshin asked.

She smiled and nodded, and all of her friends wished her a good night. Kenshin then helped her upstairs and said goodbye to her at her door before heading around to his room.

Kaoru smiled as she flopped down on her bed. She smiled sleepily as she thought about that had happened in the past hour. Before she fell asleep, one last coherent thought raced through her mind.

'_I wish it could be like this forever._'

* * *

**A/N:** Once again, sorry for the long update. Please R&R!


	14. The Begining of the End

**A/N:** Sorry that it's taken so long!!! I've had so much work and then I got sidetracked (for a really long time… -.-;;) I'm leaving for England tomorrow so I won't be able to update for a while. Anyways, R&R!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Rurouni Kenshin!

* * *

**Mansion of Secrets**

* * *

"Hey, it's all cool. Kenshin told us what happened," Megumi said as the three girls walked among the whit trees in the forest surrounding the house as they made their way into town.

"We wished you had told us earlier though," Misao pitched in. After all, we might have been able to help."

"Thanks guys," Kaoru said, smiling at the two of them. "I'll keep that in mind next time."

"Hopefully there will not be a 'next time.'"

"Well that too."

"Anyway," Megumi said as she threw a snowball at a tree, "what are we going to get the boys for Christmas?"

"I dunno. CDs?"

"Books?"

"Weapons?"

"Why the hell would w e buy them weapons? Megumi asked Misao, stunned that she would even suggest it.

"We live in dangerous times."

"Stop trying to sound like a philosopher."

"Who said I was trying to be a philosopher?"

"Forget it!" Megumi said, irritation evident in her voice as she buried her face in her hands.

"What about video games?" Kaoru asked, effectively changing the conversation.

"Well, Sano and Kenshin seem to like them," Misao noted, "but not Aoshi."

"So we can just get him books right?"

"Actually, he likes sudoku."

"What! You mean he likes that ridiculous math thing we had as homework in the beginning of the year?!?"

"Pretty much… yeah," Misao said, placing a hand on her chin.

"You look like a philosopher again," Megumi commented.

"Does it really mater?" Misao asked in an exasperated tone.

"No…."

"So, how does that make you feel?" Kaoru asked while pretending to carry a pad and a pen in her hands.

Her only response was a snowball.

"So, shall we go to the bookstore and then the video game story or whatever you call it?" Misao offered before a fight could ensue.

"Sounds fine to me."

"Let's go then!" Misao exclaimed as she started to run in the direction of the twon, her two friends close behind.

* * *

The opportunity came sooner than planned. He had started to wonder if he would have to get permission to stay at their house for a night in order to sneak her out of the house. But there she was, walking through the door unaccompanied.

Could he ask for anything better?

"Akira?"

He turned around slowly, feigning surprise as he let his normal facial expression to take over. God how he had _longed_ to smile! His muscles had started to twitch uncontrollably. The lady in the next line had even asked him if he needed to go to the hospital.

"Kaoru! What are you doing here?"

"Megumi, Misao, and I were just about to go out shopping for Christmas presents for the boys. I need to get money in order to pay.

Next!" came the banker's voice, thereby saving Soujirou from having to give a reply as well as letting him formulate a plan.

It didn't take him long to think of one; in fact, she had helped him. Once he was done, he waited for Kaoru to finish her business. As she approached him he asked, "Would you mind doing me a favor? Would you come to my car with me? I have a present for Misao in it and I would appreciate it if you could take it now so that I do not have to swing by later." HE saw the hesitation on her face and gave her a look that he hoped was pleading.

"Fine, but it better be quick," she consented.

"Come this way then," he said, relief flooding through his body as he pulled her to a side exit, far away from, and not easily seen from, the one from which she had entered.

"Isn't the exit over there?" Kaoru asked as she glanced back at the doors behind them.

"This one leads to an alleyway which leads to the spot where I parked my car."

"Oh."

He waited until they got closer, until he noticed her body loosen up, before he started to fall slightly behind. Before she turned around to ask what was wrong, he took out a box which he had hidden in his jacket from habit. He opened it as quietly as possible and took out the cloth inside it. She must have heard something as he was closing it because she had started to turn around when he grabbed her from behind and placed the drugged cloth over her mouth and nose.

The struggle was shorter than he had expected. Maybe keeping the clothe in a box had made it more potent. He dragged her to the entrance of the alley and leaned her against the wall before walking over to the car and tapping on the window.

"What?" Chou asked as he rolled down the window.

"Bring the tape and help me carry something will you?" He gave no time for Chou to reply as he walked back to the alley's entrance.

"How'd you get the princess?" Chao asked as he handed Soujirou the tape.

"Long story," was the terse reply and Chou did not ask anymore.

The checked to make sure that no one was on the street before carrying Kaoru over to the car and laying her down on the back seat.

"God, I hate wigs," Soujirou complained as he took the wig out fo his hair.

"You won't have to wear them anymore, for a while at least," Chou remarked as he started the car. "After all, we've got the treasure.

The smile exchanged between the two was brief as they sped off with their cargo to their leader.

* * *

"How long does it take to get some money?" Misao complained as she slid down the wall of the bank.

"Not this long," commented Megumi as she glanced inside. "The line's not that long either."

"Can't you go and get her?"

"Why don't you do it?"

"I've been to malnourished to do anything ever since you started to make Sanosuke cook. I haven't even been able to practice for two weeks I've been so weak!"

They glared at each other until Misao's stomach announced its presence, at which point Megumi gave up and went inside to check on Kaoru.

Megumi had not been looking for even a minute when Misao came rushing into the building and dragged Megumi outside.

"What's wrong wi-"

"Look at this!"

In Misao's hand was a silver leather bracelet with the words 'dancer, singer, actress engraved on it. Two similar bracelets adorned the wrists of Megumi and Misao,

"How did you get Kaoru's bracelet?"

"Did you see her inside?"

Surprised at the intensity in Misao's voice, Megumi quickly shook her head no without even bothering to ask Misao to answer her question.

Instead, she watched as Misao's face got pale; as Misoa quickly dialed a set of numbers on her cell phone; she listened to the answering machine pick up Misao's call. She felt her body slowly start to go numb as dread took over her as she watched Misao dial another set of numbers, knowing, but not willing to accept, the news which might come out of her mouth.

"Hi, Kenshin? It's Misao. I think Kaoru was kidnapped."

* * *

Kenshin sighed and rubbed his bruised rib cage as he hung up the phone after calling Hiko and explaining what had happened to the best of his knowledge. It had ataken a couple of well placed punches from Aoshi and a five minute long lecture from Sanosuke as Aoshi held Kenshin down to keep him from running out the door. Kenshin's forehead scrunched up as he thought back about the way he had reacted when he had heard about Kaoru's kidnapping. It wasn't how he would have normally reacted in a case like this (not that he has had a case like this before.) It was time for him to start cutting off his personal relationships with everyone, especially Kaoru.

But he didn't want to.

Never before had he gotten so close to people (other than Hiko and Saito) like this. These were his first friends and he didn't want to let them go.

Kenshin sighed again and rubbed his forehead for he could feel a headache coming along. HE leaned against the tree that he had found Kaoru dancing in front of about a week ago. Over the past week the two had only become closer. Now she was gone.

And it felt like half of his heart had gone with her.

Kenshin frowned, puzzling over the alien feeling. He definitely felt more towards Kaoru than he would towards a friend; that he was sure of. But he didn't see her as a little sister.

Still thinking about Kaoru, Kenshin got up and walked inside the house, hoping that Sano would be able to give him an answer.

* * *

**A/N:** Hi again! Once more I'm sorry again for the long wait. I'm also sorry if there are any typos; I had to type this up really quickly. Please R&R! 


	15. The Plan

**A/N:** So... It's been exactly nine months, and about that I'm really sorry, but I hope you still enjoy reading this story! R&R!

* * *

**Mansion of Secrets**

**The Plan**

* * *

"Daddy, where are we?" the eight year old asked as she woke up in her father's arms to unfamiliar surroundings. "Daddy, who are they?" she asked as she looked at the men in camouflaged uniforms and helmets carrying heavy looking guns.

"They're nice young men who have agreed to help us," her father said in a quiet voice.

"Daddy, what's wrong? Why are they carrying guns?"

"Everything is fine, darling. Now, could you be quiet for a little while? This is extremely important business for Daddy." And even though his arms were still shaking, she kept quiet because it was daddy's wish for her to do so.

They continued to drive through a large gate to a heavily defended complex. The eight year old girl clutched harder onto her father's hand as they got out of the car surrounded by the strange looking people; whether or not it was to reassure herself or her father she was not sure.

The girl watched as another man came up to her father and held a whispered conversation with him in a language that she did not understand. After a couple of minutes, the man turned around and led them to an even more heavily guarded building in the middle of the compound. The girl looked up at her father as his body began to shake again. At this point the girl started to become scared, for never had she seen her father this nervous before.

As she turned back she realized that the door was opening and revealing a long, dimly lit corridor. Down the hallway they walked, and after what seemed like forever, a door and people could be made out in the darkness ahead.

Most of the men were, in her half-asleep mind, duplicates of the men who were guarding her and her father. Besides the guards, there was also a father-son pair who appeared to also be Japanese.

When they reached the door, the two fathers nodded to each other, the only sign of acknowledgement that would pass between the two men while they were in each other's presence.

"Who will go first?" the man who had led the girl and her father asked after a moment's silence. "We will," said the girl's father, causing her to look up at him in confusion. "After all, I am more associated with the project."

"Honey," her dad said as he crouched down to her eye level, "I'm going to need you to do a couple of tests for me. Just listen to what the voice says and you will do fine."

And then he pressed the button.

"_State your name_."

"Kamiya Kaoru."

"_Please press your hand on the touch screen in front of you_."

Kaoru did as she was told.

"_Please look into the binoculars_."

Kaoru watched in amazement as a pair of binocular-like things came down from the ceiling. As she looked into them, she tried not to blink when the red laser slowly began to make it's way over her eyes.

"_Please put a piece of hair in the tray_."

Kaoru blinked in surprise as she noticed a glass tray sticking out of the wall for she could have sworn that it had not been there five seconds ago. However, she calmly ripped off a piece of hair and watched in amazement as the tray quickly disappeared back into the wall.

After a brief pause the voice came back. "_Thank you very much. Defense File: Kamiya Kaoru is now complete._"

"You may start now," said the guide to the other man who in turn nodded to his son.

And nine years into the future, Kamiya Kaoru could not help but smile in her sleep as she was being flown away against her will to Area 51, for she knew something that her captors did not.

Another Defense File had been made that day.

"_Defense File: Himura Kenshin is now complete_."

* * *

Kaoru slowly felt her senses returning to her as she slowly woke up from her drug induced state. Her mouth was dry, her throat burning, her wrist and ankles sore, her legs cramped. She could hear the sounds of the other cars as they drove past the vehicle in which she was being kept prisoner.

And she could hear voices.

She immediately knew that the vices were coming from above her, but because she was still suffering slightly from the affects of the drug, she was unable to make out what they were saying for a minute or two.

"So what exactly are we searching for, Shishio-sama?"

Kaoru could feel the adrenaline course through her veins at the thought of jumping up and tackling Akira, or the person whom she had known as Akira, for what he did to her and how he used Misao to get to her. Also his voice was so… _happy_. Anyone who had been friends with Akira would not be surprised that the desire to puke overcame her.However, those thoughts quickly went away as the conversations continued around her.

"A weapon. A tiny but extremely deadly weapon." All of the men in the car laughed. If the situation was not so serious, Kaoru probably would have laughed as well. After all, people are always going after deadly weapons.

"And where is this weapon located."

"The United States of America's infamous Area 16."

"You mean that place actually exists."

"Oh, most definitely. Why don't we just ask Kaoru-san here about it. After all, her expression tells me she knows exactly what we're talking about."

Kaoru was too shocked at the fact that this 'Shishio-sama' had known that she was awake to resist as someone pulled her up off the ground by her ponytail. All of a sudden Kaoru was facing her greatest fear.

Kaoru could not stop the tears as they ran down her face. But Kaoru did not need to be able to see clearly to know that the three people she hated with all of her being were sitting in the car in front of her.

"Are you okay, Kaoru-san?" the person who had Akira's voice asked her, a creepy-ass smile on his face. The other people in the car laughed when Kaoru instinctively recoiled from him.

"Ah, looks like she don't trust you no more."

As the men continued to laugh around her, Kaoru could only close her eyes and hope:

'_Kenshin, please don't come after me!_'

* * *

"Kenshin! Oi! Kenshin, wake up!"

Kenshin blinked his eyes a couple of times before glancing up to see Misao standing in front of him. He gave her a questioning look, and in return, she pointed to where Hiko and Saito were standing with the rest of the group around the fire. He got up and walked over slowly, trying to remain calm and collected even though his heart was beating extremely fast and his palms were wet with sweat.

"So, we even have a slight hint as to who would want to kidnap Kaoru?" Megumi asked once everyone was settled down around the fire.

"We already know who took her," Saito announced.

"Then why are we still sitting here?" Sanosuke asked angrily, standing up as if he was about to go running out the door.

"Because they are not going to harm her," Hiko replied calmly.

"How can you be so damn sure about that?"

"Because they have to be able to get her out of the country without letting the authorities know," Saito said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "They most likely hired a private plane, but they still don't want to stand out."

"How are you so sure that they are going out of the country?" Misao asked the two adults.

"Because we know what they want."

"And where is this thing that they want?"

"It is located in the middle of a military base in the United States of America."

"Which one?"

This time it was Kenshin who replied, "Area 16."

There was a brief moment of silence before Aoshi spoke up. "I thought that place didn't actually exist."

"No, it does," Kenshin said with a decisive shake of his head.

"And how can you be so sure?" Aoshi asked in a disbelieving tone.

"I've been there."

"Well now," Hiko said quickly before anyone else could speak up, "why don't you kids all head off to bed and get a good night's sleep while Saito and I think about what we should do in this situation."

The two men watched as the students reluctantly went up the stairs and to their rooms before returning back to the living room. They sat there for a while in silence before Hiko placed his head in his hands and silently asked the question he knew no one had an answer for:

"Why did it end up like this?"


	16. Nighttime Revelations

**Mansion of Secrets**

**Nighttime Revelations**

* * *

Aoshi rolled up the sleeves and undid the top buttons of his man-tailored shirt as he made is way over to the window, allowing himself to relax under the moon's soft glow.

He didn't know how long he stood there, his mind empty as he stared out at the snow covered trees that surrounded the mansion. The moonlight sparkled as it hit the snow, creating an extremely beautiful, but small, light show that reminded him a little of the room that Kaoru and Kenshin had created in their spare room.

At the thought of Kaoru, Aoshi sighed and ran a hand through his hair. As he continued to think about the situation that they were now all in, Aoshi absentmindedly walked over to his closet and pulled out a pair of flannel pants and a plain white t-shirt. He continued to think as he made his way across the room and to the bathroom where he changed and brushed his teeth. The only sign that these thoughts were more urgent than others, was that Aoshi had left his clothes on the bathroom floor instead of picking them up and either putting them in the hamper, or putting them back in their respective places in his closet.

He lied down on his bed as memories from his own childhood came back suddenly, filling his head with images he did not want to remember. He could still smell the chloroform, and it had taken three years for him to stop running away whenever he saw a big black SUV. But he still had nightmares, the physical and mental abuse would always be a part of him, and for that, he hated his captors even more.

People may call him antisocial, but that was his way of feeling safe.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard footsteps coming down the hall and towards his room. He listened as the door opened, and he could feel a pair of eyes looking over at his unmoving form on the bed. The person had started to close the door again when he called out, "Who is it?"

The door stopped moving and the person walked over to his bed. When they stopped, Aoshi looked over and saw Misao looking at him nervously as she played with a big, worn-out teddy bear in her arms. Looking away she asked, "I couldn't fall asleep, and I was wondering if you wanted to watch a movie?"

Aoshi stared at her for a couple of seconds, causing Misao to turn red, before he silently sat up and started walking out of his room, only pausing to look behind him and make sure that Misao was following.

Once the door had closed behind the two of them, they silently made their way down the hallways towards the room that they had decided to turn into a gaming/movie room. Once inside, Aoshi plopped himself down on the big leather couch as Misao made her way over to the movie collection. Aoshi turned on the TV and DVD player as Misao randomly selected a movie and put it into the DVD player.

The movie was some sappy romance story that teenage girls usually come out of crying their hearts out, but Aoshi did not mind for as far as he was concerned, anything was better than being alone with his thoughts.

He was surprised when he heard her voice breaking through the dull dialogue in the movie, not expecting her to talk. "Have you ever known someone who was kidnapped?" she asked, staring at the pictures that were moving across the TV screen. She must have taken his silence as a no, for she continued to talk, never glancing in his direction. "I have, although I didn't know it at the time. We were childhood friends, always playing together in the sandbox after school, racing each other home as our mothers chatted happily behind us." The look in her eyes was distant but happy, and her lips were turned up in a small smile, before suddenly disappearing as her eyes became sad and dull. "But that didn't last long.

"My parents had told me that they had moved away, and I lived on happily in ignorance, always believing that he would come back. I wrote him letters every week, and when I didn't get any in turn, my parents said that it might be taking a while for the letters to get to him since the post office had to forward the letters to their new address.

"Over time I made new friends, but I never forgot about him. His smile, his laugh… they had meant everything to me when I was younger. Now that I think about it, he might have been my first love. All of the boyfriends I've had up until now have resembled him in some form or another, and all of them have left my life. Ironic isn't it, that he always disappears on me?

"And then I saw his parents on TV one day. It was some show about families who had had a child kidnapped. And there was his picture in the upper left hand corner, smiling at me as if nothing was wrong. And now Kaoru's been…"

The first sob was painful to hear. It tore at his heart like a ragged knife cutting through a piece of meat. He moved closer to her and leaned her head against his shoulder, wrapping his arms around her in a protective hug.

"Sorry," she said past the sobs as she clutched onto his shirt, "it's just that you remind so much of him."

He didn't say anything as he pulled her closer and let her cry, just as he had so many years ago.

* * *

Sanosuke found Megumi in rearranging books in the library/arcade room that they had finally managed to put together after many arguments and annoyed adults. He watched as she pulled out a whole of books and then placed them back on the shelf in the same exact order that they had been in before.

He frowned at the sight, his frown getting deeper as Megumi repeated her actions with the next shelf and the shelf after that. Deciding that he needed to distract Megumi from the thoughts that were currently plaguing her mind, Sanosuke walked over to where Megumi was and asked, "What are you doing?"

Megumi jumped in surprise and twirled around to see who the owner of the voice was. When she realized that it was Sanosuke, she let out a sigh of relief and turned her attention back towards the books in her hands. "I'm rearranging the books."

"Doesn't look that way to me."

Megumi gave Sanosuke an annoyed glare before putting the rest of the books back in their proper places. "Do you know why I want to become a doctor?" Megumi asked Sano as she made her way over to the couch and sat down.

"Because you wanted to save people?" Sano guessed as he sat down on the other end of the couch, turning his body so that he could see Megumi more easily.

"That's part of it," Megumi admitted as played with the strands of hair hanging in front of her face. "My main reason is that I grew up in a family of doctors. You could say that it's been a tradition in our family to become a doctor since everyone did. It got to a point that our family was able to run a large hospital in Aizu where all the doctors shared the last name Takani. We're obsessed with the idea of becoming a doctor.

"Anyways, one night the father of a patient who had died during surgery in our hospital blew up the whole entire building, there were only ten survivors." Tears started running down her face as she continued telling her story. "They found my dad's remains, but concerning the rest of my family, there was no trace. I was left with no one, all the people I had loved were gone. Wh-what are you doing?!"

"Hugging you of course," Sano replied as he wrapped his strong arms tightly around the girl next to him.

"L-let go of me!"

"No."

Megumi looked up at him, surprised at the firmness in his voice. He met her shocked gaze with his strong one, and she stopped struggling, leaning against his chest as the tears continued to fall down her cheeks.

"Do you know why I started fighting?" Megumi shook her head no and Sanosuke continued on with his story. "My real name is Higashidani Sanosuke. I ran away from my family when I was young over some stupid dispute, I forget what it was about now. Anyways, when I was living on the street, I ran into the gang leader Sagara Sozo and he took me into his home.

"From that day on I lived with him and the rest of the gang. All of the money they earned from their part-time jobs went to food and renting expenses for all, as well as my and Tsukioka's tuition. They really weren't bad guys, they just didn't fit into the strict guidelines that society has nowadays.

"One day they were attacked by another gang for no reason at all, they probably just wanted to try out the guns they had just received. Tsukioka and I were the only survivors, everyone else had been shot dead.

"After that I started taking lessons in all types of fighting, I had sworn to myself that night that I wouldn't let anything else happen to someone important to me. I changed my last name to Sagara and became the fighter you know today.

"You aren't the only one who wants to get Kaoru back at all costs, Megumi," Sanosuke said, his voice suddenly becoming serious as he looked back down into her eyes. "We all feel like there was something we should have done, we all have people that we have lost, and we all don't want to lose anyone else important to us. We'll get Kaoru back from those bastards. You'll see."

* * *

Kenshin stood in the entranceway of the room and absorbed everything. He walked over to the stereo and pressed play, letting the music fill the room as he continued to walk around. He turned towards his right and opened up the closet doors, running his hands through the clothing on the hangers. Images of Kaoru wearing the individual pieces of clothing filled his mind, and when he closed the double doors, the images disappeared as well.

He walked over to the two dance bars positioned in front of the window and ran his hand along the wood as he continued his circuit around the room. He remembered the one time that she had gathered everyone into her room and forced them to take turns doing simple routines on the bars. A small smile graced his lips as he remembered how the girls had laughed at the boys who were failing miserably, and Kaoru's bright smile as she went around correcting them one by one, never losing her patience.

As he got in front of her bed, he remembered the night that she had come into his room after hearing him scream.

"_Kenshin… is there something wrong?"_

"_No."_

"_Don't lie to me."_

'Yes, something is very wrong,' Kenshin thought as he made his way up onto her bed.

"_All the people close to me were murdered… First it was my parents. They had gone out for dinner and left me at home… Two years ago my girlfriend and I were walking through the park at night. All of a sudden I saw a dagger making its way towards her and I pushed her out of the way so that she wouldn't be hit. That's when the gun went off."_

"And now you're gone."

Kenshin didn't bother trying to stop the tears as they ran down his cheeks. He lied down on the bed and buried his face in the pillows, allowing them to muffle his cries as he continued to cry. He could smell her everywhere, he could see her smiling no matter how hard he tried not to, he could hear her voice around every corner, around past every door.

And now he was trying to drown himself in what remained of her. He clutched one of her pillows close to him as he pulled the covers up to his nose, and as his mind slowed down, and his vision faded in and out, all he could think of was the beauty that whose disappearance had caused a large hole in his heart.

'Kaoru…'


	17. Let the Race Begin

**Mansion of Secrets**

**Let the Race Begin**

* * *

"You've gotta be fuckin' kidding me," Chou said as he glanced at the group of buildings down below him. "This is the mysterious, infamous Area 6?"

"The one and only," Soujirou replied as he put down his binoculars.

"It's not very hidden if you ask me," Chou rambled. "It's a large group of buildings in the middle of the fuckin' desert!!"

"Yes," Soujirou agreed. "It is a large group of casinos in the middle of the fuckin' desert."

Chou almost -- almost -- winced, because Soujirou said all of this with one of his biggest smiles on his face. Everyone knows you do not ramble around Soujirou during a mission. Soujirou does not like to waste time on missions, especially if it is because you are rambling, because if you are rambling, you are speaking, which means the enemy can hear you and pinpoint your location. Although, Chou does not understand why it is such a problem, because you can always whisper or knock the eavesdroppers unconscious, and you can still do work while speaking. Although, that is not the current issue here, the issue is that he was rambling and he is alone in the middle of the _desert_ with Soujirou surrounded by_ miles _of unpopulated desert which would mean that nobody would here the fatal gunshot and save his poor body from the bloody vultures, and --

"Are you coming or not?" Soujirou asked, already partway down the ridge. "I can't exactly do this mission without you."

"Coming, coming!" Chou muttered, grateful that his death would be postponed for a little longer... and maybe if he was lucky enough Soujirou would forget all about it and leave him be.

Not.

Chou slid down the ridge, and once he caught up with Soujirou the two started to make their way across the desert. They walked and slid the distance between themselves and the base. As they got closer and closer Chou could feel the anticipation building up inside. He had to wear a stupid wig and contacts for this operation, but he knew it would all be worth it.

As they approached the gate, Chou could feel pairs of eyes following his every move._ Chillax! _ he almost wanted to yell at the soldiers above him. _Enjoy the last couple minutes of your life out here in the middle of nowhere. You're gonna be vulture bait soon anyways!_

None of the civilians gave the pair strange looks as they mingled with the crowd. Only the guards positioned on the tops of the buildings would have seen the two men come in from the desert on foot. Nobody else had a clue.

In fact, some people even _saluted_ them, the stupid idiots!

The pair walked into an alleyway and down a couple of steps that led to one of the filthiest gentlemen's clubs in existence. A bell rang in another room as they opened the door and walked into the establishment. Shortly afterwards a man dressed in a mantailored shirt and a pair of nice slacks came up from the cellar and took in their appearances.

"How may i help you, officers?" he asked in a polite, brisk manner. Chou had no doubt in his mind that if they were not enemies, Soujirou and this guy would get along very well.

"Lieutenant Wildes and Lieutenant McDougal reporting for duty, sir." Chou let Soujirou do all the talking. He felt that if he opened his mouth now, he would be incapable of not laughing at this idiot.

"Alright lieutenants," he ordered as he turned back down the stairs, "follow me. We have questions to ask you two."

Soujirou only glanced at him, but Chou did not miss the glint in his partner's eyes.

_Phase One Complete._

* * *

"Kenshin! What did you do now?" Megumi asked in an exasperated voice.

"My bag is stuck in the turnstile," Kenshin replied sheepishly as Megumi threw her hands up in defeat.

Aoshi turned away from him, and Sano gave him a grin that told Kenshin that the young man was not going to help him. Misao skipped over to him and gave the suitcase a slight tug, thus releasing it from the evil grip of the enemy turnstile in question. She quickly returned to her own suitcase and the rest of the group made its way down the platform. Kenshin gave the turnstile one last glare for good measure, before following his friends.

"I can't believe him!" Megumi growled to Sano as they waited for the train to come. "First he lets his suitcase fall down the stairs, causing it to break. Second, his suitcase gets stuck in the trunk of the taxi. Then he almost runs over a little girl with his suitcase, and now this!"

"Maybe it's the suitcase's fault. It might have a mind of its own you know." She glared at Sano when he laughed and asked, "Doesn't this annoy you?"

"No," Sano replied as he glanced at Kenshin who was fiddling around with his iPod. "This is the Kenshin I knew back in school. A clumsy guy who is too nice for his own good. This just means that he is back to normal, or as normal as he can get at the moment."

Megumi glanced at Kenshin and then at Sano before sighing. She had to agree that this Kenshin was much better than the one she had been watching the past couple of days. She and everyone else was worried that they were going to lose their best fighter to depression, and the sight of this carefree and clumsy Kenshin.

"The train's here!" Misao cried out excitedly and did a little dance around the platform, oblivious to the looks people were giving her. She turned around to grab her suitcase, but paused as she glimpsed Aoshi's pale face.

"Aoshi, are you all right?"

"I am scared of the subway."

"What do you mean you're scared of the subway?"

"It's a metal box traveling at very high speed underground in the near dark!! What if we hit something? What if we derail? What if we--!"

"It's all right. It's all right." Misao and Megumi tried to reassure as they surreptitiously moved him onto the train. Kenshin and Sano watched as Aoshi almost started to freak out as the train pulled away from the station. Absentmindedly, Kenshin asked:

"I wonder how Aoshi feels about airplanes."

* * *

"Welcome to the Belagion, Sir. Miss."

"How do you like your surprise, darling?"

"You didn't have to go all out like this you now," Kaoru replied, glancing around the lobby as Shishio led her towards the reception desk with a firm grip and deceptively sincere smile.

"I would do anything for you, darling," he replied with a soft chuckle, but the dangerous glint in his eyes sent a shiver down Kaoru's spine.

"How may I help you, sir?"

"Well," Shishio started, and Kaoru tuned out the rest of the conversation, not wanting to be invited to the polite dribble Shishio and the infatuated receptionist were taking part of. It did not take long for them to finish, and soon a porter was leading the two of the towards the elevators.

Kaoru let herself be dragged along. There was no way that she would be able to escape. Shishio was faster than she was, and even if she did manage to knock him unconscious, his men had orders to keep her from going anywhere alone. She also would not be surprised if they had placed a tracking devise on her without her noticing; so this thought, along with the others, made her resigned to her fate.

"So, how do you like it, darling?"

Kaoru looked up to realize that she was standing alone in the middle of a large living room with Shishio. "What is this... a suite?" she asked, turning around to admire the nice furniture surrounding her. She noticed Shishio's slight nod out of the corner of her eye and said, "Isn't this a tad bit too much?"

"Oh, but don't forget, Kaoru dear, we will be having guests staying with us."

Shishio smirked as he saw Kaoru yawn and struggle to keep her eyes open. Before Kaoru fell asleep where she was standing, Shishio walked over and picked her up bridal style. He walked over to a pair of sliding doors, and without jostling the sleeping beauty, he opened one of them and carried her inside.

He made his way over to the bed and laid his prized won gently. He slid the covers out from underneath her and then tucked her in. Sweeping her long bangs away from her face, he leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Sweet dreams."

* * *

**AN**: Sorry for the late update. Hope you enjoy it anyways. R&R!


	18. Airplanes

**Mansion of Secrets**

**Airplanes**

* * *

"Calm down, Aoshi," Misao said as she tried to pull the young man to the gate. Planes aren't as dangerous or scary as you think they are."

"That's easy for you to say. You're not the one who's scared of them," Aoshi replied. Well, that is what he wanted to say, but he was feeling particularly nauseous at the moment, so he settled for an icy glare instead.

Misao dragged Aoshi onto the gangway as Megumi and Sanosuke distracted the lady checking the tickets by asking her questions about the flight. When they got to their seats, Misao put Aoshi in the seat next to the window so that he would be less visible to the other passengers as well as the passing flight attendants.

"Here, Misao. Give him this," Megumi said, handing the girl a couple of pills.

"What are they?" Misao asked, eyeing the pills suspiciously which made Megumi slightly annoyed. Didn't they trust her judgment by now?

"It's a sleeping pill. It'll—"

Both girls looked at Aoshi in shock. As soon as he had heard the word 'sleeping,' he had grabbed the pill out of Misao's hand and swallowed it dry.

"Anyways," Megumi continued, clearing her throat and turning back to Misao, he should fall asleep in about five minutes."

The two women once again looked at Aoshi in shock as they heard a small snore come from his direction. Megumi just shook her head before going back to her seat. Misao watched her leave and sit down next to Sanosuke. Sanosuke looked up at Megumi upon her arrival and made a comment that caused Megumi to hit him on the head, to which Misao let out a soft chuckle. Her focus shifted back to Aoshi as she felt his head fall against her shoulder. She smiled softly at him before opening the book on her lap and reading.

* * *

Aoshi woke up to the sound of screaming. He cracked one eye open to try to figure out what was going on. Standing in the aisle were a bunch of men in black ninja outfits holding swords. On full alert now, he opened his eyes and sat up. He heard a shout come from behind him and saw Sano fighting with some of the ninjas that were in the back of the plane. Apparently he had been in the bathroom when the hijackers made their presence known. Aoshi made to get up and join his friend in the fight, but stopped when he felt a hand on his forearm. He turned towards Misao who shook her head no and motioned for him to stay seated.

Aoshi removed his hand from his seat belt, but kept his eyes on Sanosuke and his fight. At first everything appeared to be all right. Sano was throwing punches and kicking his opponents into one another. At one point it crossed Aoshi's mind that these ninjas must be zombies because no matter how many bones cracked, they always came back up for more. That thought did not last for long though as he felt his heart accelerate when a ninja suddenly fell from the ceiling on top of Sanosuke. He did not have to worry though. Sanosuke had known what was happening and grabbed the guy by his shirt and flinging him towards the front of the plane.

Things were on the up when Aoshi noticed that Sano was shrinking. Aoshi felt his eyes widen as the process accelerated, and soon an eight year-old Sano was trying to inflict damage on the ninja, who at some point had abandoned their swords for hand-to-hand combat. Aoshi found that he could only watch as Sanosuke was tied up by the ninja. However, the kid Sano did not know when to give up and bit one of the ninjas.

The ninja let out a surprised yelp and tried to pull Sano off of him. Everything went silent as a loud slurp could be heard coming from their direction. The ninja that Sano was holding onto fainted, and one of his fellow ninjas tried to get Sano off of his fallen comrade. He was about to kick Sano when he stumbled back in surprise and pointing a finger in Sano's direction shouted, "VAMPIRE!"

The only thing that could be heard on the airplane, besides the air conditioning, was the sound of Sano drinking the blood of the fallen ninja. Aoshi dared not to blink as he watched Sano lift his head up, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth. A smirk made its way across his face as he saw all of the scared people staring at him. His tongue found its way through his lips and licked at the blood lingering on his face.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Sano's were filled with bloodlust as he looked over his victims. "It appears that I will have a feast tonight." He yawned and leaned against the seat behind him, somehow managing to be graceful even though he was still bound with ropes. "I will let you all live a little while longer as I am tired. However, never doubt that you will die tonight. It has been a while since I have been able to drink fresh human blood."

It was a while before someone was brave enough to see if Sano was truly asleep. The brave soul was another one of the hijackers who after slapping Sano's face to see if he was awake, grabbed the child around the waist and shoved him into one of the overhead compartments. Once it was slammed shut, all of the ninjas pulled out rolls of duck tape and started to seal the overhead compartments on that side of the airplane in hopes that Sano would not be able to get out once he wakes up.

Aoshi was still reeling from shock when one of the ninjas approached Misao and asked, "Are you okay, darling?"

Misao stood up and placed her hands on his chest. He pulled her close to him in response and she responded, "Yes, honey. Although I must it admit that it was a great shock to learn that I have been living with a vampire for the past four months."

"Well, everything will be back to normal now," the man said as he tilted his head towards hers, capturing her lips in a kiss as he whispered, "you can come home now."

"You have no idea how long I have been waiting for this," Misao muttered as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I have missed you dearly."

"As I have missed, you, my darling."

Aoshi must have made a noise, because the two broke apart and turned around to face him. "Who's that?" the man asked, examining Aoshi as he pulled Misao even closer.

"Oh! Let me introduce you two! Darling, this is Aoshi. Aoshi this is my husband."

"A pleasure to meet you, Aoshi-san," the man said as he removed his hood, and Aoshi felt his heart stop.

1) Misao was married.

2) Misao was married to Brad Pitt. Brad FUCKING Pitt!

How the hell did they manage to keep it under wraps?

Since when did Brad Pitt become a terrorist?

MISAO'S MARRIED!

Aoshi's brain went haywire as he tried to comprehend the situation. Misao was married. Why hadn't she told him? He thought… He thought… Aoshi decided not to go in that direction.

"Thank you for taking care of Misao for me," Brad continued talking to Aoshi, not noticing his state of shock. I was worried about her since she had to infiltrate the enemy, but it appears that you took good care of her. I'll petition with the leader to keep you alive. It 's the least I could do to show my thanks," he continued, obviously thinking that Aoshi was paying attention to what he was saying.

Aoshi was removed from his stupor by the sound of coughing coming from behind him. The group of three turned their heads to see who it was, and Misao immediately rushed to Megumi's side when she realized that Megumi was the one coughing.

"This is not good," Brad said. "It looks like she got infected with that deadly virus Leader had her experiment."

"It's not contagious, is it?" Misao asked, turning to face her husband. "Last I heard, there was no cure, right?"

"No, it's not contagious, and I think Megumi developed a cure. Hey, Megumi," Brad said, shaking her shoulder, "where did you put the cure?"

Megumi tried to respond, but that only started another coughing fit.

"Do you think Leader might have the antidote?" Megumi asked her husband.

His forehead creased in thought. "She might. I'll go ask her. Wait here," he said before running back down the aisle to the front of the airplane.

It wasn't long before Brad came running back down the aisle, with a very familiar woman in tow.

"Kaoru?"

"Yes, this definitely looks like the symptoms Megumi described in her last report," Kaoru said as she bent over Megumi and examined her. "Brad, look in the outer pocket and hand me the container with the blue pills."

"Yes, Leader," Brad said and began to search through the bag.

"_Leader_?" Aoshi was pretty sure that he was going crazy at this point.

"Found it!" Brad exclaimed before handing the container to Kaoru. Kaoru unscrewed the lid and poured some of the pills into her hand. She swallowed one before sticking the others in her mouth and kissing Megumi.

Now Aoshi had seen it all.

"That should do it," Kaoru said with a satisfied tone. She place the container back in her bag before turning to face her two followers. "Come on you two, we're about to have a meeting in the front of the plane. Brad, carry Megumi."

"Yes, sir!" Misao and Brad saluted. Brad lifted Megumi over his shoulder, and the couple followed Kaoru back to the front of the airplane.

"Aoshi."

Aoshi jumped in shock. He turned around to see Kenshin standing behind him and almost fainted. Kenshin was wearing a frilly white dress, and had a golden band around his forehead. In his hand he carried a golden wand with a star at the end. He smiled at Aoshi and said cheerfully, "Hello!"

"What the hell are you wearing?" Aoshi asked, trying to calm his heart.

"My uniform, of course. All guardian angels have to you wear this."

"Kenshin. You are not a guardian angel."

"Yes I am. In fact, I am you guardian angel. I have decided to inform you of the truth since this is your time of need."

"Kenshin, guardian angels do not exist."

Kenshin's face went pale and he grabbed onto Aoshi's arm. "Don't say that!"

"I'm sorry, Kenshin, but you need to out of this delusional reality you're in. Guardian angels do not exist."

Kenshin became paler, and appeared to be dimmer. His grip on Aoshi's arm, however, was stronger. "You cannot say that, Aoshi! We guardian angels are like Tinkerbell. If you do not believe in me, I shall cease to exist!"

"Kenshin—"

"Stop!"

"Kenshin—"

"Don't say it!"

"Kenshin! Guardian angels are myths! They do not exist!"

"NOOO!" Kenshin cried, and Aoshi watched in amazement as he was sucked into a black hole.

"If I clap my hands, will he come back?"

"Aoshi! AOSHI!"

Aoshi woke with a start and saw Misao and Kenshin staring down at him.

"Aoshi, we've landed, everyone's already left the airplane. We have to get off so that the crew can clean."

Aoshi fainted.

He was never going to rid an airplane again.

Never.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait! The next update will be sometime next month, and will happen sooner if you all review! :)


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